CMLL Aniversario: 2018-09-14 

Recapped: 09/19/2018

Matches: 

La Jarochita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit beat Dalys, La Metálica, Reyna Isis
(11:16 [5:53, 2:33, 2:50], 1/3, below average)

Ángel de Oro, Audaz, Niebla Roja beat Felino, Mephisto, Negro Casas
(11:20 [3:55, 4:38, 2:47], 1/3, ok)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Atlantis, Mistico, Soberano Jr.  
(14:21 [6:11, 4:11, 3:59], 1/3, good)

Ciber the Main Man, Scharly Rockstar, The Chris beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero for the CMLL World Trios Championship
(11:31 [5:23, 3:22, 2:46], 1/3, below average)

Diamante Azul, King Phoenix, Penta El Zero M beat Carístico, Hijo de LA Park, LA Park
(18:51 [5:53, 5:41, 7:17], 1/3, great)

Bárbaro Cavernario & Rush beat Matt Taven & Volador Jr. , hairs vs hairs
(22:56 [3:54, 2:54, 16:08], 1/3, great)

What happened: 

In the main event, Taven is eliminated in the third fall but then comes back into springboard kick Volador. It’s played up like a mistake for a moment like he was meaning for Rush, but Taven is attacking Volador and friendly with the rudos after. Taven tries to run away without getting his hair cut, and Volador brings him back. They get some hair cut in the ring.

Ciber (barely) used the ropes to pin Último Guerrero

Reina Isis is wearing cat ears. Bastet is the cat Egyptian god, not Isis. It doesn’t matter.

Thoughts: 

The main event fell short of being a top end match, though it was still an entertaining match and the most dramatic one on the show. It didn’t all come together for the all the problems which could’ve been seen from the start. The entrances spell out that this should’ve been Rush & Volador, with Cavernario & Taven literally being afterthoughts. Taven appears to be here and a técnico just to give Volador an out for losing. Cavernario doesn’t even have that much of a defined role but needed to here because he was the one guy the crowd was totally behind. Except that means the match is one guy the crowd hates (Rush) & one guy the crowd loves (Cavernario) versus one guy the crowd seems to have limited interest in (Taven) and one guy they’re not as much behind as usual (Volador.) It’s a weird dynamic that distracts from the match and then is overshadowed by the Taven turn at the end. Even putting aside this wasn’t the match people want, this wasn’t well put together.

The actual match is very good, doing their best to overcome the hand they were given. Cavernario does the crazy splash early, and then often. Rush is working his hardest while still antagonizing this crowd. Volador looked sharp. They put together nice series of moves and had some spectacular moments near the end. Taven was the weak link match in this match, unexpectedly not being on the same page as the Mexicans at points and just seeming off in a way he hasn’t this tour. Cavernario shined brighter, coming thru in all the big moments in a way that would’ve won over the crowd if they weren’t already behind him. These four guys did all you would expect out of them in a big match, and this would’ve been exceptional for most Friday night shows. It just still didn’t feel like a big Aniversario show main event.

The semi-main was the one match that over delivered. They had to overcome some odd teams, and one spot that very much didn’t go right. It didn’t matter in the end because they did so much that one moment going wrong was overshadowed by so many that went right. Fenix & Penta pushed the match farther than anyone else, adding sequence and not just moves. Hijo de LA Park was shaky a little early – doing mirror spots with Fenix doesn’t benefit him – but added big moments as they came on. Diamante Azul was fine though the idea of him matching up with LA Park seemed like a waste of LA Park. Carístico fit nicely with both Penta & Fenix and I’m still not sure why they haven’t done either of those matches. This wasn’t the big LA Park match that could’ve been but he put in a solid effort.

I didn’t in find title match as much as much terrible as terribly underwhelming and terribly boring. The Cl4n got a lot of offense, which has a hit or miss rate of looking any good. Cibernético struggles with falling down, which seems to be something most people need to be able to do as professional wrestlers. The Guerreros didn’t do as much as their first match, and the finish came off as screwed up. I don’t know why they’re bothering about this, but finally giving them an entrance video was a pretty big tell that they were going to be sticking around for a while.

The NGD match wasn’t among the best ones they’ve had – Atlantis was both figuratively and literally in the way of that – but it was a good showcase for the rudos. They ran thru some, though not all of their big offense in the second fall and the rudo crowd was pleasantly surprised to see Mistico take the loss in the end. Soberano looked good except for the one big slip and surprised everyone by using an actual submission hold. Mistico continued his run of doing well on big shows and getting booed for it.

Didn’t really think a lot of the second match. The veterans were present and trying, but not bringing a lot extra to the match. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja aren’t adventurous on their own. This was better than the Tuesday version of this match would be, but it still felt short of something notable. They did build the match on making Audaz a bigger star by the end, and the dive he tried looked pretty cool.

The women’s match wouldn’t stick out positively even on a regular CMLL show. It was not Aniversario caliber or close. They had less energy than usual and no one outside of maybe Metalica was trying things they don’t normally do. The comeback spot by Marcela looked messed up or badly timed, Dalys took a lazy bump on a dropkick out of the ring, and the most of the work was forgettable. Isis probably shouldn’t be doing a stripping routine if she’s meant to be booed, but who even knows if rudos are supposed to be booed in CMLL. You’re probably supposed to jump over a drop down but Isis wasn’t doing that either. It is embarrassing this match it on to the Aniversario show and so many people who would’ve tried did not.