CMLL on Marca: 2019-09-13

Recapped: 09/13/2019

Matches:

Robin & Súper Astro Jr. beat Grako & Espanto Jr.
(13:38 [2:56, 4:38, 6:04], 2/3, ok, 00:00:00)

Dulce Gardenia, Esfinge, Fuego beat Disturbio, Misterioso, Tiger
(13:38 [2:56, 4:38, 6:04], 1/3, ok, 00:21:55)

Ángel de Oro, Atlantis Jr., Niebla Roja beat Ephesto, Dark Magic, Luciferno
(12:59 [5:07, 4:58, 2:54], 1/3, ok, 00:49:39)

Carístico, Dragón Lee, Titán beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Mephisto
(16:50 [3:12, 5:40, 7:58], 1/3, ok, 01:12:51)

Volador Jr. beat Negro Casas in a lightning match
(9:05, foul→cradle, good, 01:40:55)

Cavernario, Ciber the Main Man, Diamante Azul beat Gilbert el Boricua, Sansón, Último Guerrero
(10:53 [4:39, 6:14], 1/2, ok, 01:57:05)

What happened:

Gilbert and Guerrero didn’t get along in the main event, costing each other both falls of the match. Promos followed all around afterward.

Volador wrestled as a rudo, wrestled half the match in a mask, and still cheated to be Casas in the end. Volador told Casas he’d be left old and bald in front of all the fans. Casas told Volador those fans still care about him despite his age and it might not be the same for Volador.

The undercard was changed around. Dark Magic replaced La Bestia del Ring. Misterioso replaced Sagrado. Grako replaced Akuma, who might not be back from his injury.

Thoughts:

The main event made sense on paper, with the Ciber/UG/Gilbert feud taking center stage as a cage match final tease. There was the small problem of no one really caring about any of this. The crowd wasn’t particularly lively, but the Casas/Volador match go over and this centerpiece of the Aniversario show was not at all. Diamante Azul isn’t involved in that issue but still somehow ended up taking a lot of the match. His strength appears to be returning and he wanted to show it off. It didn’t really help, though it might have felt good for him. Not sure the rest of the match helped either. It wasn’t as bad as some of the previous ones but didn’t change anyone’s mind about this feud.

Volador/Casas was enjoyable, with Volador excelling back in his old arrogant rudo. The crowd wanted to cheer for Negro Casas and the wrestlers went with that in mind, with the veteran getting the big moves in the match and Volador just being rude. Volador’s early dismissal of Casas’ big kicks and knocking him down with one superkick set up the dynamic well. Volador maybe not needing to foul to win but choosing to do it anyway to embarrass Casas was unexpected and sends unclear signals about where they’re going next. Casas didn’t need to look strong as much as to make people care about his next big battle. I think they do.

There were a couple of undercard matches which were going along well and then just derailed a bit near the end. The fourth match was like that. There was a bizarre stretch in the third fall where everyone seemed lost, Titan went to unmask Mephisto to give them something to do, and then everyone got lost again. They cleaned it up the modern CMLL way – everyone does a dive – but it was not a good moment in a match that had them. Mephisto was paired up a lot with Dragon Lee and just couldn’t keep up at times. Titan had a great stretch working against the Dinamitas and Caristico tried at least one new spot.

The tercera lacked some energy. Atlantis is still exciting and excited to be there, but the Chavez didn’t seem that interested. Luciferno & Ephesto were the usual selves. Dark Magic looked clumsy and out of step with everyone else, but he seems here for his look. He’s not Friday level, but he was out there as a sub anyway, struggling to work with Atlantis Jr.

The second continued to focus on Dulce Gardenia, giving the new exotico many of the big spots before Esfinge for the ultimate win. The first two falls were better at it, with the third fall having some odd moments. Disturbio & Fuego looked off at one point, then Tiger & Esfinge seemed to have timing issues. The effort was there, it just wasn’t as smooth as it might have been.

The opener was about as boring as usual. Espanto seems to have switched to being a hard-hitting guy as opposed to anything else. The double rampdive was cool. Too bad CMLL couldn’t find a way to show Robin’s dive. The off the shoulders dive didn’t work as well, but Robin’s turned into a perfectly acceptable opening match wrestler. Super Astro should be in a role bigger than that. Grako seemed to hurt himself more with the way he took Astro’s finish.