CMLL Dia de Muetros iPPV: 2018-11-02 

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:

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:

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.