CMLL on Marca: 2018-09-21

Recapped: 09/21/2018

Matches:

(CMLL has not posted the full show as of 90 minutes after it aired. I may add the timestamps later if they do.)

Magnus & Star Jr. beat Akuma & Espanto Jr.
(11:49 [6:28, 3:31, 1:50], 2/3, ok, 

Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego beat Kawato San, Okumura, Virus
(12:08 [5:20, 3:24, 3:24], 1/3, good,

Cuatrero, Rey Bucanero, Sansón beat Esfinge, Stuka Jr., Tritón 
(14:25 [4:24, 3:42, 6:19], 1/3, ok,

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Ciber the Main Man, Scharly Rock Star, The Chris
(6:12 [3:28, 2:44], 1 DQ/2, ok,

Mistico beat Negro Casas in a lightning match
(7:26, DQ for mask removal, below average,

Cavernario, Rush, Terrible beat Atlantis, Diamante Azul, King Phoenix  
(13:11 [2:57, 6:37, 3:37], 2/3, ok,

What happened:

Terrible got the pin in the main event after Diamante Azul accidentally took out Fenix with his dive and Rush dropkicked Atlantis to turn the pin over.

The lightning match featured a new graphic that looked like it came from 1978. The time, a (second) CMLL logo and “match relampago” were all displayed on the screen, in large type that obscured the action.

Casas tied Mistico’s mask to the ropes. Mistico pulled off his mask while the referee was busy with Zacarias, and kneed Casas questionably low. The referee turned around, saw Casas selling a foul and Mistico unmasked, and called it a win for Mistico. Crowd booed.

The Chris hit the Guerreros with the cane for the first fall DQ. UG used the ropes to win, much more effectively than Ciber had the week before, and then challenged for a title rematch. Ciber wouldn’t totally commit but it appears to be happening.

Pompin counted Signo down for a Star three count in the third fall of the opener when it clearly wasn’t supposed to be the finish. Signo didn’t do a good job of kicking out, and he and Star Jr. kept going for a spot before Pompin ushered them out.

Thoughts: 

The main event, and the entire show, didn’t feel like something following up a big Anniversary show. It felt like an ordinary midweek show effort for the most part, with the rudos not really showing anything after their big win last week. Fenix was the best guy in the match, and on the show, but didn’t have a lot to work with. Diamante Azul & Atlantis tried but are both limited. Don’t think it was Diamante Azul’s fault his big ramp clothesline looked bad, seemed like the rudos weren’t concerned about being in the right spot. No one much was concerned tonight.

The lightning match was going along fine, with Casas and Mistico matching up fine, and then they had an exceptionally dumb finish. Everyone involved looked dumb, especially the people who were spending their time to watch it. I’d like to see a match with a real finish with them. I’d like to be able to actually see without giant graphics in the way. It was fairly obvious someone was told they had to put time on the screen, and threw something together while giving zero thought to how it would look or where to put the information so that it wouldn’t block what was already on screen. This is the same promotion who streamed about five minutes without realizing they forgot to turn the audio on, so I expect we’ll still be seeing it for a while.

I was distracted live from the fourth match by trying to make sure the audio issue wasn’t on my end, and that it would work when CMLL got it to work. It was fine on the rewatch, with the Cl4N doing a few new things and the match generally helped by not going too long. It was just a means to a straight fall win for the técnicos, but the action was generally OK. The Cl4n struggled the most feeding for the Guerreros moves and they didn’t have to do that much.

Rey Bucanero tried his best to keep up with the NGD in their trios match. Like Cl4n, his body just won’t always do what his mind wants, but the superplex to the floor spot was inspired. NGD looked strong in the end but have had better matches. The técnicos seemed off at times, with some mistimed exchanges. There wasn’t a lot of energy early on either.

The segunda was a smooth match, the way the Panthers and Fuego usually are, moving along at a good pace. They didn’t reinvent the wheel or do anything surprising, but it was a competently good CMLL match which got more entertaining as it went along. Kawato looked improved, though they still weren’t having him catch dives. Okumura seemed slower than usual and was in the wrong place for The Panther’s swing kick. I don’t know what Blue Jr. was trying to do to Kawato at the end.

Opener might have been good if they got to whatever their planned finish was going to be. Or maybe not. Rudos used their biggest moves possible in the first fall, knowing they weren’t going to get another pinfall, and gave us the weirdness of ending the first fall of the match with a super reverse rana and a Canadian Destroyer. Akuma tries and Espanto was better than usual up until he forgot to kick out. Star Jr.’s off the back legdrop spot takes a lot to set up but looked great. Magnus had a good night, though the crowd wasn’t into this at all.