Day: July 27, 2018

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-07-27 

thecubsfan
when in doubt, Monito GIF

Recapped: 07/27/2018

Matches:

Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito beat Kaligua & Último Dragoncito
(13:29 [5:34, 4:18, 3:37], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Okumura, Templario, Tiger beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr.
(14:22 [6:00, 3:43, 4:39], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Soberano Jr., Titán, Valiente
(16:28 [5:17, 5:58, 5:13], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Carístico beat Cavernario in a lightning match
(8:45, La Mistica, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Volador Jr. beat La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible in a relevos increíbles match
(10:03 [2:05, 3:03, 4:55], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Ciber the Main Man, Scharly Rockstar, The Chris  
(9:55 [4:51, 5:04], 1/2, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

gently laying a man down as your finish

Klan Kaoz unmasked the Guerreros and used The Chris’ cane in the first fall, drawing a DQ. Último Guerrero beat Cibernético using a cradle and the ropes to get the pin. There were no post-match promos. The Chris flipped over the guardrail taking a dive in the third fall, and was belatedly found to have suffered an injury on the landing.

Blue Panther slipped on the edge of the ramp trying to do his usual dive in the second fall of the segunda, and fell hard to the ground. He got some medical attention, tried to continue, and left the match moments into the third fall.

Thoughts:

The most forgettable Friday night show in quite a while.

Kaligula springboard armdrag

The main event took Klan Kaoz back to square one, a first fall with the same kind of errors that doomed than in their debut. The Chris whiffing on a superkick sent the crowd over the edge, and it might not have even been his fault. Gran Guerrero ducked and maybe wasn’t supposed to there. The match was still lost at that point, and the Guerreros forcing in stage dives didn’t really find it again. Klan Kaoz seemed to be walking thru their planned offense with no intensity. It’d make more sense if they’d been told this was it regardless, and the finishes (and, more so, the lack of post-match promos) suggested this might be it for them. It may for the best, it’s not going to be great if they come back on 08/10.

Back to the meandering Los Ingobeanbels in the semimain. It was a B-show main event as the second from the top match. Diamante Azul making his big return by clipping the top rope on his ramp dive clothesline was about right. He had no presence this match. Volador was barely there outside a dive. There’s a case this was below average, but the main event was just noticeable worse.

Cavernario/Caristico wasn’t close to being Cavernario/Phoenix or Dragon Lee/Caristico. They worked a simple Carístico showcase match, at a slower speed and with seeming less intensity than either of those. Carístico got to show off his main dives. Cavernario didn’t get nearly as much; the Zacarias 619/Cavernario splash sequence was the one good moment where it felt like he had a chance. It was a clean match that seemed solid but not as exciting as hoped. It’s a borderline recommendation and not something you’d have to go back and watch if you missed it.

Templario ends Blue Panther Jr.

This NGD match was enjoyable, if just a little bit off as it went along. The técnico section seemed less fluid than usual as if they were moving around the ring to different spots but not stringing thing together in the second fall. It was better in the third fall for me, with Soberano and others looking spectacular at times, and Sansón doing a strong job of keeping it together on his springboard dive. This was still pretty good, I’d just have it a little lower than their best.

The second match is just going to be the match where Blue Panther’s ramp dive went very badly for him. He wasn’t doing so well before it, and it was a mercy ending when Templario’s dropkick in the third fall took him out of the action. There’s no remembering anything else from this ordinary midcard match, because that moment looked spectacularly bad. Templario had an OK match that would’ve been good if he got to work with anyone else on the rudo team. Tiger appears to want to try some new gear now that he’s on his own but he’s still stuck with the same opponents.

Kaligua didn’t show much more than the Acero/Fantasy group of minis in his debut, with his best work being a couple of highspots in the third fall. I’m not sure where you would show a lot in CMLL minis matches though. The rudos weren’t good and the crowd wasn’t interested in this match existing at all. Maybe he’ll be better in more time but it might be tough to tell.

Klan Kaoz versus Guerreros again tonight (but not for titles), AAA in Tijuana

thecubsfan

Tonight’s CMLL show does not have the trios titles on the line, and that fact is probably more interesting than the match itself. Klan Kaoz has defeated Los Guerreros the last two times they’ve met. Ciber was pretty clear about wanting a championship match for the CMLL rudos trios championship. It remains a non-title match.

It’s not unusual for CMLL title match builds to go a week longer than the people involved with them seem to think. There’s plenty of times where one person challenges for a title “next week” and it turns out to be two weeks later because that’s just the pace CMLL scheduled. This is a slightly different case: Klan Kaoz is probably not on the 08/03 show, because it’s already one of the most loaded non-big 2 cards of the year. Kaoz would be working fourth from the top at best, underneath LA Park/Rush trios, Taven/Volador and Negro Casas’s anniversary match. There’s no point in bringing these guys in that low, so they’re getting at least a week off. Maybe more.

Pick your favorite theory:

  1. CMLL is disappointed about how Klan Kaos haven’t gotten over, didn’t think they were wrestling well enough to have ‘earned’ a title match, and they’re ending the feud tonight without one.
  2. CMLL is pleased about how well Klan Kaoz has drawn. They’re not at LA Park levels, but shows focusing on this batch of ex-AAA have been part of CMLL drawing 8,500 or more for nine straight weeks and CMLL wants to stretch it out. Klan Kaoz won’t be on 08/03, but this theory supposed they’re saving the title match for 08/10 when the ROH guys and legends won’t be around.
  3. Klan Kaoz is going to be around for a lot longer because some or all of the people in this feud are going to be part of a cage match on 09/16. The idea of a cage match hasn’t made any sense so far, because the only people who would be involved would be much more valuable in a singles match situation. LA Park & Rush in a multiman match would be a waste, Fuerza Guerrera versus Atlantis as the end of a cage match would be a waste, and so on. On the other hand, it would tough to sell a singles Ultimo Guerrero vs Ciber the Main Man (or The Chris or Scharly Rock Star) stand-alone apuesta match, and more appealing to throw in about eight other people around them to confuse the issue.

I’m still betting against a cage match. At the same time, it’s probably not an accident Cibernetico has pinned Ultimo Guerrero in both of the lead-up matches so far.

Don’t trust my thought process alone. I said this week I needed to do a list of every feud Cavernario has lost, forgetting I had just done that two months ago, so my mind isn’t what it needs to be. Having already done that already, I wanted to put Cavernario’s run of feud losses – likely to continue to tonight against Caristico – in some bigger context. That took creating a list of every feud that’s taken place in CMLL this year, including figuring out who won and lost the most.

Barbaro Cavernario has lost 7 feuds in 2018 going into tonight’s show. (That chart shows 8; neither he or Caristico gets credit for a Win until this show is over.) No one in CMLL has lost as many as Cavernario in 2018. Ultimo Guerrero has lost 6 (+this current Klan Kaos feud), but Ultimo Guerrero has also won 6. Cavernario has won 0. Diamante Azul is 1-6, only beating Terrible in Guadalajara in January. Mistico is 1-4, only getting the April CMLL Trios title defense in Puebla to his win count. This is no great insight, but the people who win feuds in CMLL are people who have title belts, and people who are tecnicos. Volador has won 10 feuds because he is both. Cuatrero has won 7, because he is a champion and he’s owned Angel de Oro thru the year.

That Diamante Azul is back on Fridays for the first time in his latest return from France. He teams with Atlantis & Volador against Los Ingobernables. CMLL announced LA Park as appearing on the Anniversario show last Friday, so maybe they’ll announce Rush this night. NGD take on Soberano, Titan, and Valiente, which should be pretty good. The Panther Kids take on Okumura, Tiger, and Templario, who really seems to have been given Puma’s spot at the moment.

The show opens with Pequeno Nitro & Pierrothito (first streaming match since May) against Stukita and the debuting Kailgua. Kaligua appears to be a new luchador. He was out doing press yesterday. He’s got a Facebook page It’s mostly private, though it looks like it was told he would be debuting back in June. A Kaligua has been wrestling around Mexico State and Mexico City since 2014 and I’m assuming that’s the same one. He hasn’t ever turned up on video. Long time CMLL fans will remember the promotion used to have a “Caligula”, who became Raziel, who became a person who doesn’t seem to exist at the moment.

CMLL streams at 8:30pm on Marca (geoblocked currently) and Facebook, though I bet you knew that if you made it this far. Maybe I should put that up higher in this post. It’ll be up on YouTube after the show. Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

Terrible doesn’t want to give Ciber the Main Man a title shot because he doesn’t think Terrible is in good enough shape or good enough at wrestling for it, and the fans will all boo him Ciber for not being good enough.

CMLL held a press event for Negro Casas’ 40th Anniversary at a nightclub yesterday. Reporte Indigo has quotes from Casas about his career, his injuries, and rejecting a chance to work in the US because his fans were in Mexico. With everyone trying to bring LA Park to English speaking US indies because of his popularity, I hope Casas somehow gets that same bit.  A special Negro Casas meet & greet package (a shirt, poster, photo with Casas) will cost 899 MXP ($48.50 USD.) The Atlantis one seemed like it did well, and maybe CMLL will start celebrating more anniversaries if they’re making money off of them.

A lot of the AAA roster, plus Fenix & LA Park, are in Tijuana tonight for an EMW show. It’s not a Twitch streamed event. It is Tijuana, so I’d expect handhelds to show up on YouTube over the weekend. Main event is scheduled to be Psycho Clown vs Fantasma vs LA Park in a TripleMania preview. Fenix teams with Nicho & Pagano against Rey Escorpion, Texano, and Juventud Guerrera. Sammy Guervera is in Mexico, working a three-way match with Taurus and Hijo de LA Park. He’s working the Tijuana-Monterrey->Mexico City (Ecatepec) loop.

Dragon Lee & Penta are off in PCW Ultra tonight. Penta is in the main event trios against OVE, while Dragon Lee faces ACH. Lee and ACH have been in NJPW’s Best of Super Juniors tournament the last two years, but both times in opposite blocks so this is their first singles match. The show will air live on Fite for $15.

Add 10/03 San Luis Potosi to the AAA upcoming taping list. That’s probably a memo I need to give myself to update the list.

MDA is hyping Sunday’s Blue Demon vs LA Park match on Sunday as a first time ever meeting. (This may not be true.)

A local promoter says Alberto el Patron & Rey Mysterio Jr. will headline a The Crash show in Puebla on 09/21. Garza Jr., Bestia, and Daga are also mentioned. It’s notable that Rey Mysterio is being advertised that far in the future with his WWE status seemingly up in the air. I hope he’s not pulled off for the people involved, but they should have a plan for him not be there. Alberto versus a mystery rival (which may have intended to be Mysterio) was announced for TripleMania months ago, though hasn’t been brought up in recent months. It doesn’t seem as though Alberto will be appearing in AAA before the show, so his match would feel out of place to someone following AAA – though I’m not sure a good chunk of people who will be watching the show follow AAA anyway.

Mucha Lucha Atlantis is advertising LA Park and Rush for 10/07. The poster teases it as a singles match, which it could be, but family members of both being added shouldn’t be a surprise.

Televisa has a video interview with Mistico (which seemed to be blocked in the US, so I’m not even sure which Mistico.)

El Hijo del Santo got some attention after pointing out cars in front of his shop stripped of tires, and the government checking out the situation quickly (while insisting they weren’t doing it quickly just because was Hijo del Santo.) The article ends as it must, with Hijo del Santo complaining about the style of wrestling today.

Shocker says he still needs another operation his jaw.

An article about the AAA Colombia show mentions the golden era of lucha libre in that country is in the 70s & 80s. AAA’s gone to Colombia in past years, but this will be the first time since they’re on TV there via Space.

+LuchaTV streamed the Muchas Luchas (Guadalajara) 3rd-anniversary show last night. It’s still up. Card didn’t seem much see but it’s interesting to see them try a different approach to posting content. They also have a new edition of Aqui Esta La Lucha.

Mexa Wrestling is organizing a bus service to get to their 08/03 show from Naucalpan.

LuchaTalk is back with a new episode.