CMLL Gran Prix iPPV: 2018-10-05 

Recapped: 10/05/2018

Matches:

Akuma, Camorra, Star Jr. beat Hijo del Signo, Robin, Yago in a relevos increíbles match
(14:03 [7:35, 6:28], 1/2, ok)

Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, Marcela beat Dalys, Metálica, Reyna Isis
(9:53 [5:23, 2:46, 1:44], 1/3, ok)

Gran Guerrero beat Valiente in a lightning match
(9:10, super fireman’s bomb, ok)

Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, Mistico beat Cavernario, Ciber the Main Man, The Chris
(17:06 [5:11, 4:00, 7:55], 1/3, ok)

Dark Magic, David Finlay, Flip Gordon, Gilbert el Boricua, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Matt Taven, Michael Elgin, Okumura beat Carístico, Cuatrero, Diamante Azul, Euforia, Hechicero, Sansón, Terrible, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. in CMLL’s Gran Prix
(59:57, good)

1. Sansón Bomb Okumura Okumura (17:00)
2. Jay/Mark crucifix powerbomb/neckbreaker Cuatrero (19:57)
3. Hechicero Magia Negra Black Magic (23:05)
4. Michael Elgin double powerbomb Diamante Azul (26:34)
5. Carístico Caristica David Finlay (29:40)
6. Matt Taven frogsplash Sansón (34:12)
7. Terrible powerbomb Flip Gordon (35:21)
8. Jay Driller on Terrible (36:06)
9. Pulpo Guerrero on Jay (36:25)
10. Carístico fisherman’s suplex Mark Briscoe (37:23)
11. Mark Briscoe double pin Carístico (37:23)
12. Gilbert spear Hechicero (40:23)
13. Volador Canadian Destroyer Matt Taven (45:07)
14. Gilberg backcracker Volador (47:28)
15. Euforia la Soberana Gilbert (50:57)
16. Michael Elgin powerbomb Euforia (55:35)
17. Michael Elgin spinning powerbomb Último Guerrero (59:57)

What happened:

Volador & Taven feuded during the Gran Prix, with one of Volador’s ears bleeding (earring pulled out?) after an early skirmish. UG challenged Elgin to a singles match for next week and Elgin accepted.

LA Park walked out of the ring immediately after the semi-main, visibly upset with how Cibernético failed to take his spear a moment early.

It appeared Signo and Camorra are feuding in the opener. It explains a lot about CMLL that enough people thought it was an OK idea for that to happen.

Thoughts:

This year’s Gran Prix was not at the level of others. The emotion of the fans made the moment in the last two years. It wasn’t present during most of the match. The brawls early were good and people cared about the Taven/Volador fights and the UG/Elgin stuff at the end. They came across as quiet most of the match, as they were all night. The action was good but never got to an intense level until the last elimination. Last year’s match had some rapid sequences taking advantage of having so many people involved. This year’s match had a slow mass of people moving towards the stage to catch some dives (which somehow turned out to be only the second worst version of that bit on the show.) There were solid individual performances without a lot of standout one. Elgin was again the best guy in the match, though trying to do more lucha spots sometimes didn’t work out for him and there was a long awkward moment with Euforia and a superplex at the end. The match was overall good, though nothing I’d recommend someone who missed it spending $10 after the fact.

Volador & Taven played their feud well and the accidental blood helped with the emotion. Volador beating Taven after both kicked out of each other’s big feud seemed like Volador’s revenge for now, though they left it open enough to come back again later. Gilbert continues to look sluggish and not sharp. I’m still holding out a little hope he’ll get better with more time away from his surgeries but it’s not looking good. Dark Magic was fine, and his exchange with Diamante Azul went well. David Finlay had a good early exchange with Hechicero and a less smooth one with Carístico. He didn’t make a big impression. Flip Gordon looked more spectacular but also didn’t seem to be around for a long time. The NGD vs Briscoes bit was a nice way to give those teams something in this match. Hechicero & Euforia got to last a longer than most thought, with Hechicero getting in more. He could stand to do the shoulder wave magic spell about 10% less though. Someday, the CMLL announcers will find out they’ve mixed up Jay and Mark Briscoe every time and feel so embarrassed.

The semi-main featured the slowest developing stage dive spot of all time, in a match that often moved pretty slow. The Guerreros style of match kept things moving with the Cl4n. An LA Park match means more meandering, and they’re not any better in that style. The Chris had to do a lot more work for his team than previous matches. He did take a Spanish Fly but wasn’t really that great. Cibernético was worse, having some awkward sequences with LA Park right until the end. Maybe the Guerreros are better than we thought because Cibernético looked worse than usual. It’s hard to consider this good when Ciber was so bad.

Valiente has had way too many lightning matches of late and he’s not a guy who’s going to vary those up in the best of times. It’s really about how cool his dives are that night, and the Valiente Special seemed to miss a little bit tonight. Gran Guerrero was a suitable though not exciting opponent himself. Maybe the most notable thing is he seems to have changed his middle rope finisher to a safer fall than just tossing someone off the top rope.

The women’s match was a little bit better than average, maybe because of the stunning moment where Dalys didn’t actually win. Avispa did better than most of the new women debuting, making an impression with her tope con giro. Dalys & Avispa worked a lot together, which was good at times and also had them going thru practiced sequences without things actually happening. (Thinking of whatever the spinning powerbomb spot was supposed to be.) No one really stood out.

The opener was a dead match outside of Robin’s contributions and the fun dive train at the end. The weird sides were a determent to the match and set up a feud no one wants to see between the two obvious worst guys involved. The fans couldn’t have been more dead for this, and the action was poor at times. Robin really tried to make something out of it and it got better as it went along, but it felt like a bad Tuesday match for a while.