January 5, 2019 – luchablog

CMLL (FRI) 01/04/2019 Arena México [CMLL, Lost in Lucha, Lucha Central, Notimex, Ovaciones, Record, The Gladiatores, thecubsfan]
1) Ephesto, Gran Guerrero, Templario b Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr.
13:17. Tecnicos took 1/3.
2) Titán b Tritón [lightning]
8:04. Titan won via pinfall with his new figure four headtrap cradle.
3) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. DQ Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
6:46. Euforia fouled Valiente for a DQ.
4) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible b Atlantis, Kráneo, Volcano
13:14. Ingobernables took 1/3. Volcano replaced Diamante Azul (injury) on Monday.
5) Dragón Lee b Cavernario
17:56. Dragon Lee took falls 2 (DQ for mask removal, didn’t seem planned finish) and 3.
6) Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © b Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. [MEX TRIOS]
21:29. NGD took falls 2/3 for their 7th defense.

CMLL promos: NGD, Dragon Lee, Los Ingobernables, Caristico, Titan.

Press interviews; Dragon Lee (on Cavernario & Takahashi), Euforia (just wants a singles match with anyone, even Ultimo Guerrero!), Vulcano & Kraneo (still want Diamante Azul to join), Los Ingobernables (promising surprises, Rush congrats LIJ for their title wins), NGD (want a shot at the world trios titles), Titan (going to the top).

This was one of the best CMLL shows, top to bottom, in a long time. The fourth match was not much good and some of the others were short, but the top two are worth making time for and the undercard was all good. The luchadors treated this like it was an important show and the effort showed thru.

FantasticaMania lineups normally come out around 11 pm ET tonight. There’s no guarantee that they will again, but it’ll be worth checking around NJPW’s website for them.

RIOT has opened a Pivotshare channel. The September 2018 show is up for free all weekend, and they’ve got two other shows up as well. It’s $3.50 to a rent a show, $5/monthly subscription and $10/download. If you buy a ticket to their February show in advance, they’re also giving you a free subscription.

Arena Lopez Mateos on 01/20 has Los Traumas & Penta vs Ovett, Leon Rojo, and Angel de Demonio. Demonio exile from the arena last about 60 days. It is a “Klandestino” show, which appears to be an in-house brand for the owners of the building (though it has never really been explained.)

Arena Lopez Mateos on 02/01 has Maximo vs La Mascara in a seconds hair match. Brazo de Plata is Maximo’s second, which means La Mascara’s second (Goya Kong) is just a footnote; they’ve found a way to do a Super Porky hair loss payoff without him wrestling.

Chessman wants to win the Megachampionship and the Copa Antonio Pena title in 2019.

Lady Maravilla is happy with her 2018, for both joining AAA and for getting the WWE tryout. She says the Mexicans were told they did the best as a group, which makes sense given they probably get much more matches than a lot of people coming from South America. (And also they could’ve just been told that.)

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 01/11/2019 Arena México
1) Robin, Star Jr., Súper Astro Jr. vs Cancerbero, Disturbio, Raziel
2) Drone, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Kawato, Sagrado, Tiger
3) Pólvora vs Felino [lightning]
4) Blue Panther, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Máscara Año 2000, Rey Bucanero, Shocker
5) Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Villano IV vs Euforia, Niebla Roja, Valiente [Relevos Increíbles]

It was always going to be bad in Mexico with the names CMLL was sending to Japan. This outdid expectations. I am guessing Villano IV had the good timing to have a strong match right when CMLL was casting about for a short-term Diamante Azul sub, but that main event wouldn’t be much better with Azul and it’s a condemnation of all the regular guys left that they’re not getting that spot. Shocker & Rey Bucanero are among the wrestlers rarely used on Fridays any more. If you’re a rudo lower on the card from them, you probably should give up any hope of doing anything here.

The first FantasitcaMania show will happen earlier this night. I don’t expect it to be special but it will be more worth your time.

Recapped: 2019-01-04

Matches:

Ephesto, Gran Guerrero, Templario beat Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr.
(13:17 [5:41, 2:38, 4:58], 1/3, good, 00:01:48)

Titán beat Tritón in a lightning match
(8:04, headtrap cradle, good, 00:25:00)

Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. beat Euforia, Mephisto, Último Guerrero
(6:46 [2:26, 4:20], 1/2 DQ, ok, 00:37:10)

La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible beat Atlantis, Kráneo, Volcano
(13:14 [3:21, 3:00, 6:53], 1/3, ok, 00:52:27)

Dragón Lee beat Cavernario
(17:56 [2:24, 2:51, 12:41], 2 DQ/3, great, 01:14:56)

Cavernario springboard pump splash (2:24)
DQ Cavernario mask pull (2:51)
Dragon Lee mad scientist bomb (12:41)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © beat Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. for the Mexican National Trios Championship
(21:29 [6:19, 6:31, 8:39], 2/3, great, 01:41:41)

What happened:

The DQ in the second fall was for Cavernario taking off Dragon Lee’s mask. It didn’t appear to be meant as a finish, just the usual sitting on the corner unmasking tease, but Tirantes called it a DQ anyway.

The fourth match also had an odd moment where referee Edgar shoved down Atlantis when he tried to come in illegally during the rudo section of the match.

Euforia fouled Valiente to end their match in two falls. Both are not going to Japan and announced for next week, so that appears to be a feud for the down period.

Thoughts:

headscissors from the apron are played out, headscissors from the top rope are not

The main event finished at a high level, with an exciting third fall and a lot of near falls that felt real (despite following the usual patterns.) Soberano showed some good personality and NGD were effective destroying machines as usual. They gave that third fall a lot of time to develop while not short changing the other two; it was very positive to see this group both in the main event and given a real chance to deliver in that situation. The heights of this were not as high as the singles match, though it wasn’t far behind.

Dragon Lee and Cavernario unloaded on each other with the best they had to over for one fall. It probably wasn’t supposed to work as it did; Dragon Lee surely was going to win the second fall some other way, and there was an obvious effort to start off the third fall hot after the first two had been lackluster. They went very long in that third fall and just nailed each other with big move after big move, doing a couple of good near fall teases with the ropes. They didn’t pull out anything new, Cavernario & Dragon Lee are just ordinary a great fix for each other. I’m lower than most on this match because I count the not good first two falls against it. There’s no reason to watch them if you’re watching this after the fact, but they did happen.

I thought he missed the dive until I realized what happened

The Ingobernables did some Ingobernables things. This was the match that would’ve benefited from being much shorter because the ran out of what stream they had in the third fall. Atlantis wasn’t going to do much to start with, and Volcano & Kraneo stuck to their usual lanes. This didn’t look like it had any real place on a “best of” show and it lived up to that expectation.

Kind of similar to the UG/Caristico match, the veterans relegated to the tercera for the night went unusually hard for the time they were going, probably knowing they were only going half as long as usual. Valiente was the standout on his team, and this felt like a night where Volador & Carístico were trying. The opener was the better Guerreros performance of the night, though this wasn’t bad. I don’t think there was enough here to call it good, but it wasn’t something you’d have to skip past if you were watching the show later.

Titan/Triton felt like one of Triton’s best matches in the while. The rope headscissors looked impressive, his 450 landed well, and he had no major problems. He still lost, stuck in one too many confusing Titan holds, but Triton seemed nervously excited before the match started and that doesn’t always turn out well for him. I expected a little but more, I was waiting for it to get crazy and it was mostly just solid back and forth with moments of brutality but never quite reaching a great flow; they had lots of ideas for spots but not a lot connecting them. Still, the effort was much improved over usual for a lightning match and that was good enough for me.

The opener had more action than they usually allow, feeling like what we might see two spots higher on a Friday show or three on a Tuesday show. Rey Cometa looked very sharp and the tornillo into an armdrag was superb. Too bad Templario had to kill him in the end. Templario & Gran Guerrero carried most of the action, which was great news for Ephesto. Stuka & Maya were the good versions of their usual selves.

Day: January 5, 2019

Cavernario/Dragon & NGD title defense highlight strong CMLL show, next Friday’s show looks dire

CMLL on Marca: 2019-01-04

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