Day: November 5, 2018

IWRG team falls to rest of the World, Caristico vs Rush tonight in Puebla

thecubsfan
photo by Black Terry Jr.

IWRG (SUN) 11/04/2018 Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, Black Terry Jr. (Flickr), The Gladiatores]
1) Power Bull & Sairus b Ángel Estrella & Chicanito
2) Chica Pantera & Lili Dark b Dulce Luna & Lady Cat
3) Black Dragón & Eragón b Death Metal & Picudo Jr.
4) Fantasma de la Ópera, Ra-Zhata, Shil-Ka b Lunatik Extreme, Ovett, Toto
5) Dr. Cerebro, Metaleón, Toscano b Capo del Norte, Capo del Sur, Hijo de Canis Lupus
Dr. Cerbero replaced Aliado de Dios. Mascara 2000 Jr. attacked Toscano post match.
6) Athoz Montanez, Cuervo (Puerto Rico), Demetrio El Gladiador, Heddi Karaoui, Hip Hop Man, Mosca (Argentina), Pierre Montanez, Zumbi b Eterno, Hijo del Alebrije, Imposible, Mr. Electro, Relámpago, Rokambole Jr., Tortuga Leo, Villano V
Cuervo won the match for the World team. Eterno replaced Dragon Bane.

Not sure if the lights went out here too, but the main event looks like it has very low light. Maybe it was a mood thing. Cuervo beat Eterno to get the big win for Team World. It feels like they’re setting up Cuervo for a big match by the end of this year, but it’s tough to tell with IWRG.

Tonight’s CMLL show has Caristico and Rush facing off in a singles match after Caristico’s feuded with the Munoz family for the last couple of weeks. They had the same match last August. It was ok. They did it in January 2016 and it was great then. I expect they’ll do a match that gets the fans to react, but I dunno beyond that.

The semi-main might be more interesting, a rare match between the world trios champions (Guerreros Laguneros) and the national trios champions (NGD). Those two teams haven’t wrestled against each other much since the young Dinamtias have come to the main roster. The rest of the show has some unusual names but not promising matches. Drone, Kraneo, and Stigma face Dragon Rojo, Polvora and guest wrestler Tyson la Bestia. Skadi makes her first stream appearance in over a year, teaming with Lluvia & Marcela against La Comandante, Dalys and Tiffany. The Panteras from northern Mexico return to CMLL, with the younger sons Gemelo Pantera I & II on the same side with policeman against Astral, Lestat and father older brother Panther Blanca. CMLL usually frowns on fathers against sons family against family, but there’s obviously something outside the normal rules going on with how the Panteras are part of these shows.

The El Planchitas column says six CMLL luchadoras were suspended from the promotion for two weeks. Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis, Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, and Princesa Sugehit had a match on the 10/12 Arena Mexico show. Money was thrown in, and a photo of all six of them posing with the money backstage was posted on Twitter. The column claims Julio Cesar Rivera went to the programming department and got them suspended for the crime of tecnicos and rudos posing together in a backstage picture. I can’t prove if JCR was involved but the other parts check out. That photo was posted on Twitter and some of the six women worked thru the following Tuesday, but then all of them disappeared for a couple weeks.

At Estrellas de Lucha Libre, Miguel Reducino writes about the “brain drain” of CMLL losing people like Flamita and Bandido.

The documentary on Casandro is being presented in Mexico City thru November 10.

Lineup

CMLL (SAT) 11/10/2018 Arena Coliseo
1) Retro & Sangre Imperial vs Cholo & Inquisidor
2) La Guerrera, La Vaquerita, Lluvia vs Dalys, La Seductora, Tiffany
3) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego vs Cancerbero, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado
4) Rey Cometa vs Drone [lightning]
5) Flyer, Kráneo, Soberano Jr. vs Dark Magic, Ephesto, Luciferno
6) Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Carístico vs Mephisto, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

A normal Saturday show.

CMLL Dia de Muetros iPPV: 2018-11-02 

thecubsfan 1 Comment
Ultimo Guerrero is normally a rudo

Recapped: 11/02/2018

Matches:

Oro Jr. & Súper Astro Jr. beat El Coyote & Grako
(15:56 [6:25, 1:59, 7:32], 2/3, n/r)

Átomo, Gallito, Microman beat Chamuel, Mije, Perico Zakarías
(17:13 [6:14, 1:59, 9:00], 2/3, good)

Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Terrible beat Ángel de Oro, Audaz, Stuka Jr.
(11:19 [4:08, 7:11], 1/2, good?)

Atlantis, Hijo de LA Park, Mistico beat Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto
(12:55 [5:45, 1:44, 5:26], 2/3, good)

Sansón © beat Templario to keep the Rey del Inframundo championship
(16:46, 2/3, great)

  1. La Templaria (3:54)

  2. Sansón backbreaker powerbomb (2:36)

  3. Sansón super backbreaker powerbomb (10:16)

Diamante Azul, LA Park, Michael Elgin beat King Phoenix, Penta 0M, Último Guerrero in a relevos increíbles match
(13:45 [5:36, 4:00, 4:09], 1/3, good)

What happened:

Microman

This was the first of a weekend Dia de Muertos shows. There wasn’t as much of a set this year, instead relying on more video boards than usual to present a background. The lightning, the special makeup and the dragging people to hell (starting with the fourth match) continued on.

This was also an iPPV, announced just a day before the show. The iPPV was not good quality. Background music played instead of match audio for most of the first match, with the feed being cut off at the finish of that match. The feed buffered for the next four matches makes the matches unwatchable at times. The stream finally started working fine by the second half of the Rey del Inframundo match. It leaves this show as hard to recommend. The undercard is enjoyable and would be worth watching if it were either available for free or available complete, but neither option exists. The Sanson/Templario match and the main event aired well enough to watch and good enough to want to watch, but it’s tough to recommend paying for an iPPV where 2/3rds of the matches are messed up and no one involved seemed all that bothered about it.

During the show, CMLL announced the Leyenda de Plata would return on 11/16, and the 11/23 show will honor Mascara 2000.

Thoughts:

Templario

The good points of the main event outweighed the low points. This was one of these matches where Diamante Azul felt glaring out of place, caught between the delusion of the great luchador CMLL appears to believe he is and the guy who needed to repeatedly told where to go he actually was. It was still a great match when he wasn’t around. The Elgin/Phoenix sequences were strong, two guys who have some obvious chemistry and idea how to make each other look impressive. LA Park was more picking his spots than usual, but fit in better as a background player than he has in other matches. Último Guerrero and Pentagon has good moments, and this overall would’ve been better good as the similar Anniversary match if they had one better person.

The Templario/Sanson match had a slow start, working more of a technical match than expected between two rudos or a show with such big ideas. It turned out they were saving the bigger spots all for the last half of the third fall, which was full of dives and near falls. Templario looked impressive while coming up a little short, exactly what they wanted to get out of this match. The Dia de Muertos atmosphere added to the stakes of the match, but this seemed really Sansón establishing he can handle an important title match without a veteran in there to hold his hand. He did it last year with Soberano, he did it this year with Templario, and he’ll probably be doing it a lot to come with slightly more important titles.

I have notes on the other four matches, but nothing I really want to point towards after the feed hurt them. The micros match captured the fans, as it usually does – it’s strange that what could be the small comedy wrestlers instead push themselves harder to add and improve their matches more than the serious full-sized people. Coyote & Grako had shaky moments in the opener but put in a lot more effort than usual for that position. It’d be good if they worked more Friday matches, at least until being stuck in that spot kills their enthusiasm as well. The middle two trios matches were better than usual for Friday nights, but the show had killed my enthusiasm by that point.