CMLL on Marca: 2018-10-12

Recapped: 10/12/2018

Matches:

Akuma & Camorra beat Robin & Star Jr.
(13:07 [5:42, 3:18, 4:07], 1/3, below average, 00:01:25)

Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis beat Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit
(14:45 [7:21, 3:19, 4:05], 1/3, ok, 00:22:47)

Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Templario beat Audaz, Esfinge, Soberano Jr.  
(12:22 [4:57, 7:25], 1/2, good, 00:48:23)

La Bestia Del Ring, Rey Bucanero, Okumura beat Atlantis, David Finlay, Hijo de LA Park
(11:33 [5:32, 2:18, 3:43], 2/3, below average, 01:09:24 )

LA Park, Mistico, Volador Jr. beat Cavernario, Hechicero, The Chris
(15:40 [5:48, 4:52, 5:00], 1/3, great, 01:33:29 )

Último Guerrero beat Michael Elgin
(18:44, 1/3, great, 02:02:06)

1. Pulpo Guerrero (5:58)
2. Michael Elgin powerbomb (2:36)
3. Guerrero Special (10:10)

What happened:

After he lost wrestling as a rudo, Michael Elgin turned back técnico. He told the crowd he loved Mexico and respected Último Guerrero.

Okumura replaced Shocker in the fourth match.

Rudos won clean in the third match for no particular reason. That seems to be a second men’s match pattern now.

Thoughts:

Michael Elgin versus Último Guerrero will be talked about as one of the best matches of the year in Mexico. It had strong action, with the two working together like they’d wrestled a hundred matches. It had Elgin looking strong and powerful at every opportunity, laying it into Último Guerrero on chops and clotheslines. Other people on this show looked impressive too – if you want spectacular looking offense, this is a good show for you. What broke this match out was Último Guerrero’s epic performance. Último Guerrero has spent most of his career as a powerful, skilled and dangerous rudo. He’s been pretty great at it. Somehow, someway, Último Guerrero is even better the exact opposite role, at being a sympathetic underdog. UG reacted to every blow, fought thru the beatings, crawled on his hands and knees to get show he was refusing to give up even while he was totally overmatched. The nominal top rudo in the promotion is better at showing a tecnico’s fighting heart than most of the técnicos. It’s crazy he’s so good at something isn’t really his part most of the time. Elgin helped too, mocking Último and demonstrating rudo qualities much more than he had the rest of this tour. He did a great job of being the big obstacle UG had to keep fighting back against. This could’ve gone down just like something the two people in the match were interested in finding out who was better, but they told a great story that made sure the entire crowd was sucked in. This was an all-time Último Guerrero match.

I have small quibbles with Elgin’s style, though even then I think he was better than usual. I can’t find in myself to give it an excellent, which probably means it’s the elephant in the room. At the same time, I think that if there was a vote among Mexican CMLL fans about the best match of the year, this match would beat even the LA Park/Rush match.

The semi-main was outstanding trios match when it was going strong, and it was going strong for a lot of the way. The Mistico toss sequence both were executed well, but also looked great, with the overhead camera being utilized well for once. The bit of Mistico & Hechicero trying to wrestle with unceasing interruptions in the first fall gave a different feeling to this match, and the match stayed feeling different from the usual CMLL match the rest of the way. It also allowed LA Park to interact and react to Mistico, and he’s so good at the little things like that. This match overcame an amazingly terrible triple suplex spot early to look really good later, with the third fall particularly going really well. Cavernario came off as more serious than usual, and Hechicero fit in well with the main event guys. LA Park looked like he was having more fun than any other non-Rush match here too.

The fourth match couldn’t follow the match which preceded it. It also wasn’t good by any other standard. Bestia del Ring treated the world to his usual batch of physical and mental mistakes. Bestia not being able to hold up light Hijo de LA Park on a running powerbomb was amazing. Finlay continues to show nothing interesting, though he hasn’t been in a good scenario on Friday night yet. Rey Bucanero & Okumura weren’t on the level of the rudos who Hijo de LA Park usually wrestlers with CMLL and his performance was less impressive as a result. An easy match to skip.

The tercera was a great exciting showcase for the técnicos, who also somehow lost in straight falls. I have no idea why we’re getting so many rudo two fall wins, but at least this one was fun getting there. Audaz looked very impressive, and he did it while barely working with Templario. He was getting around the ropes and onto his opponents with ease no matter who he was facing. That meant Templario worked a lot with Soberano, and that turned out to have strong chemistry. Soberano worked pretty hard for a guy who’s about to head to Japan for weeks, pulling off a nice tornillo at the end. I hope he and Templario get to a title match at some point. Even Esfinge was good when he was annoying, and the other rudos contributed. The only thing holding this back from being a great match was a bit more time.

The women’s match was the usual not much match. It was something I wasn’t really interested in beforehand and they didn’t do much to change my mind. Avispa Dorada got to her dive but not much more. I was worried they were going to freeze her out after getting over last week, but Dalys did give her a little bit of time in the third fall. Jarochita looked off a lot. Dalys tried hard, seemingly because she was getting her win back this week.

Robin was the only one in the opener who looked like a possible good wrestler. Star Jr. normally is one but was off often on offense. His second fall moonsault was so not close to hitting that CMLL actually held off showing the replay. He really needed to have the awareness to realize his mistake and add in another move there. Akuma sometimes is but didn’t have a good night as a base. Camorra never is good and lived up those expectations, blowing the setup to his finish and then struggling to get Robin from the ropes.