CMLL on Marca : 2019-12-20

Recapped: 12/20-21/2019

Matches:

Mercurio & Pierrothito beat Shockercito & Último Dragóncito
(9:56 [3:55, 2:01, 4:00], 1/3, ok, 00:00:00)

Drone, Fuego, Stigma beat Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
(11:25 [7:20, 4:05], 1/2, ok, 00:16:27)

Hechicero, Pólvora, Vangellys beat Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa
(13:08 [5:41, 4:11, 3:16], 1/3, ok, 00:35:04)

Templario beat Audaz in a lightning match
(8:56, Templario spin out powerbomb, good, 00:58:42)

Cuatrero, Felino, Forastero beat Ángel de Oro, Titán, Valiente
(14:26 [4:21, 4:36, 5:29], 1/3, 01:12:26)

Carístico, Diamante Azul, Volador Jr. beat Gilbert el Boricua, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
(11:38 [4:07, 3:15, 4:16], 2/3, ok, 01:37:00)

What happened:

Felino and Angel de Oro feuded in the semi-final, though it was played down and didn’t factor into the finish.

JCR mentioned the possibility of Cancerbero & Raziel winning an upcoming tag team tournament for the Arena Coliseo tag belts. That suggests CMLL hasn’t forgotten those belts (last held by Esfinge & the departed Triton), though there was no indication of when that tournament might be held.

Thoughts:

One of the great mysteries is how Ultimo Guerrero was able to reversal La Mistica into a cradle in the first fall but not the third. Or maybe it’s not really that interesting. Gilbert looked better than had in the past, maybe because Diamante Azul was there as a comparison. Volador held parts of the third fall together, but this was a normal main event on an unremarkable Friday night.

CMLL turning the volume down on the Angel de Oro & Felino feud made for an odd semi-final. That remained the pivot point for the match, but the intensity wasn’t there. They also seemed to lean into Angel de Oro as rudo and Felino as tecnico, but that just resulted in Felino seeming extra grumpy (doing no comedy) and Angel de Oro being more chicken. Titan looked superb, with cool mat stuff against Forastero matching his usual rope flip craziness in the third fall. NGD didn’t really come alive until it was time to win.

Audaz versus Templario was expected to be a matchup of new moves. It just wasn’t Templario who was expected to do them. Audaz stuck to most of the moves he’s doing in trios matches while Templario pulled out a new crazy power move to take him out. It didn’t look like Templario did enough of the work to make it happen, but that makes it the most interesting flip Audaz did in the match. Templario took a flip on Audaz’s tiejeras reversal which nearly as impressive and generally controlled most of the match. This was a fun match because their regular offense and time is plenty enough to be entertaining, it was just also a chance for Audaz to show if he had more he’s not been able to do in trios match. He didn’t show it here.

The third match didn’t totally come together overall but had its moments. Not sure why Esfinge decided to destroy himself with a missed dive in this match but it did look like it sucked. Esfinge trapping Vangellys in holds in the first fall was more surprising. Rey Cometa & Hechicero weren’t smooth all match, but they ended the first and third fall well.

I question how tuned in I was to this show because I was very confused when there wasn’t a third fall in the segunda, only to realize the tecnicos had indeed won the first two. What I did notice were the rudos being pretty well-coordinated as always and the tecnicos coming off better as a result. It’s unclear when Virus can’t just team with Cancerbero and Raziel all the time because they seem to get the best out of each other and CMLL could away sue more rudo teams. This was enjoyable while it lasted.

The return of Mercurio adds another person to the seemingly long list of people doing piledrivers as finishes here. He was generally fine for not being around a lot, shaky taking Shockericto’s big move to end the second fall but not a huge problem otherwise. The tecnicos wanted to do things, as much as the first match of a CMLL show will allow. It wasn’t far off from working, and maybe one of the better minis matches here in a while.