CMLL Martes: 2018-08-14

Recapped: 08/16/2018

Matches: 

Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito beat Acero & Aéreo  
(12:52 [4:14, 4:10, 4:28], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma beat Espíritu Negro, Hijo del Signo, Nitro
(11:58 [6:35, 1:32, 3:51], 2/3, ok,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Black Panther, El Audaz, Tritón beat Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Universo 2000 Jr.
(14:53 [6:01, 4:32, 4:20], 1/3, good,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Blue Panther, Soberano Jr., Titán beat Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
(11:46 [6:35, 5:11], 1/2, ok,VideosOficialesCMLL)

Stuka Jr. beat Hechicero ©  for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
(17:49, 2/3, great,VideosOficialesCMLL)

1. Hechicero magia negra (4:56)

2. Stuka Jr. casita (0:55)

3. Stuka Jr. torpedo splash (11:58)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Ángel de Oro, Kráneo, Niebla Roja  
(14:11 [3:34, 4:21, 6:16], 1/3, good,VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened: 

Hechicero weighed in at 94 KG and did not have a second. Stuka weighed in at 93 KG and had Black Panther as a second. Stuka won the title.

Thoughts:

NGD, Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja can have good trios matches in their sleep by now. This wasn’t sleepwalking. This was a lot more energy than normal for any Tuesday main event, much less one following a really strong title match. This felt more like an even battle than the NGD just running thru offense, with the tecnicos being on the edge of winning before Angel de Oro’s tope went wrong. Kraneo being the big bruiser the NGD can’t quite overpower makes for an interesting counterpoint to them always throwing around the little guy. This was a welldone match that would’ve been the standout match on most Tuesday shows.

Hechicero/Stuka over delivered, with a deeper and more creative match than expected. It was surprising from the start, with Hechicero finding a delightfully complicated way of getting in to his Magia Negra submission. (He tried it a different way later; maybe finding unexpected ways to get into his pretzel hold is a new thing.) Hechicero had to figure out how that would work before he did it, and the whole match seemed like it had more thought than even the average title match. Stuka pulled out all sorts of head/neck attacks, some of which he doesn’t do regularly. It all built well to the back superplex and the piledriver he only pulls out for big matches. It made it a totally sensible outcome even if the title change was still unexpected; Stuka just outsmarted Hechicero on this night. This had the same amount of really big spots as other title matches – this is a big month for Hechicero’s springboard moonsault to the floor – but it also had the small touches not in other title matches. Hechicero rolling away from the first torpedo splash attempt before Stuka could try it was a finish tease which isn’t done in CMLL much. It also perfectly set up Hechicero rolling out of the way later, only to roll right in position for Stuka doing the crazy splash on the ramp instead. This was a really well done match. I’m not sure what it was missing for me to rate it higher, but they got the crowd that was there for this match to care a lot about it.

The fourth match was the most Blue Panther of weird Blue Panther led trios match. The first fall was a match itself, with the técnicos making two different comebacks over about seven minutes of action. The second fall was dominated by the rudos, they eliminated Soberano, and then they passed up chances to defeat Panther & Titan until Mephisto finally pulled Titan’s mask. It made for exciting moments at times but the match didn’t feel like it had a great flow to it because of all the weird shifts. Soberano & Titan looked good in what they did and the crowd is always on Panther’s side but I would’ve liked something a little bit more traditional, or at least coherent.

Audaz being Audaz took the tercera up a bit, but it wasn’t him alone. The rudos did far more work than usual. Sagrado remains underutilized as a base for flashy técnicos, but Misterioso and Universo were with him for fun team offense you usually don’t get to see out of them. Enough went smoothly to push the técnicos to do more and was a fun stretch to the finish. This was a standout match for a Tuesday show.

The técnicos in the second match had a hot stretch to finish out the third fall. The rest of the match was plain. The rudos didn’t sabotage the técnicos this time but there wasn’t much to their sections.

The opener was a borderline good match, something you wouldn’t mind watching if you were already watching the show. Both teams seemed to have a lot more energetic than usual, and less prone to holding someone and yelling at the crowd for moments. They strayed from the usually scripted sequences, though some of it (like Aereo’s flip over the double clothesline) looked less than sharp because of it. I think Acero got defeated twice in the third fall, which was a little odd. That can happen when you actually try to do spots in the third fall and that part was nice. This was definitely better if not exciting.