CMLL on Marca: 2019-10-18 (Gran Alternativa Final)

Recapped: 10/18/2019

Matches:

Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito beat Angelito & Fantasy
(14:13 [4:44, 2:46, 6:43], 2/3, ok)

Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso beat Misterioso, Okumura, Sagrado
(10:11 [4:42, 5:29], 1 DQ/2, ok)

Rey Cometa beat Stigma in a lightning match
(5:59, Rey Cometa 450 splash, ok)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Atlantis Jr., Audaz, Soberano Jr.
(22:27 [7:37, 5:33, 9:17], 1/3, ok)

Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Diamante Azul beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
(10:43 [4:29, 1:51, 4:23], 2/3, ok)

Star Jr. & Valiente beat Fugaz & Místico in the CMLL Gran Alternativa final
(17:42 [4:08, 2:13, 11:21], 1/3, great)

What happened:

Star Jr. & Valiente won the 2019 Gran Alternativa. The final fall came down to Star Jr. & Místico, with Star Jr. rolling thru a La Mistica into a cradle for the win. The announcers repeatedly stated Star Jr. would get to be in the main event the following week.

Thoughts:

Star Jr. came thru big in the main event. He is a deserving winner of the Gran Alternativa, and of moving out of the second match pool of wrestlers he’s been stuck in for the last several years. Fugaz is good, both rookies had solid performances, but everything he did came off a lot like what plenty of other guys do on the roster. (Fugaz was almost a perfect fit for Místico because they do several of the same spots.) Star Jr. brought out more new ideas for the big show, stuff as complex as a new tornillo dive and a simple as a well-timed punch. He came off a better flying prospect than Flyer did last year (and definitely better than Flyer now) and giving him the big win over Místico in the end really cemented this as a big win.

This one of those shows where the stream just wouldn’t play correctly for me. Battling takes a lot of focus away from actually watching the show. My impression was the show was largely just ok, though my impressions may be more off than usual. Both the fourth and fifth matches were familiar patterned matches, missing some life or reason for them to standoff. The NGD match felt like it went much longer, though maybe it’s just the rudo routines that happen to last longer. The tecnico opposition was good and it’s great news that Atlantis Jr. can already fit in on a team like that, but they didn’t really graduate to doing anything we don’t normally see of them. NGD took a lot of the match, which continues to help them look dominate but doesn’t do much for the tecnicos. The semi-main moved a little better and had a minor Caristico/UG issue to give the match something to build around, though it also felt overly familiar.

Cometa/Stigma had the theoretical advantage of feeling unusual for being a new matchup. They tended to fall back into the usual tropes, including this week’s stage dive with no real meaning. My heart sank when Stigma got Stigmatic and I was relieved when the match continued after a kickout. It probably shouldn’t be as big a deal; Cometa’s a much less error-prone luchador than Stigma, though also less likely to break from his usual routes.

I don’t know why there was an excessive violence disqualification in the second match. I don’t know why Pegasso thought a cameraman was a rudo to leap onto from the apron. It was all strange. It’s also strange that the Panthers seemingly debuted a tag team move here; for two guys who constantly team, they don’t really have many spots as a duo. It is a little progress.

Angelito would be interesting in a division where other people were trying. That is not the CMLL mini division. Pierrothito seemed to be wrestling thru an injury, not that it made a lot of difference.