Volador & Caristico again in Puebla tonight

CMLL ran a memorable incredible pairs tournament in early 2010. It wasn’t the winning team or the final (Atlantis & Mascara Dorada defeating La Mascara & Negro Casas) which stood out. It was a second-round match which made the most news. Volador & Terrible faced Averno & Mistico. The latter two were long-time rivals but, instead of not getting along, Mistico embraced the chance to wrestle as a rudo for the first time ever. The match was heated, Volador nearly beat Mistico with La Misitica, and Mistico instead fouled Volador to win. The two had a singles match a week later, where Volador both escaped La Mistica (something rarely done) and then beat Mistico with his own hold (something never done.) Volador had been wrestling in main events for the last year, was part of a successful tag team with La Sombra, but was seen by the Arena Mexico diehards as a talented wrestler CMLL just wouldn’t go all the way with. Fans sentiment was Voladorw as the better wrestler than Mistico but CMLL would never let someone surpass their golden goose – and then Volador did completely cleanly. Mistico & Volador had a rematch a week later and Volador won again, though not at all cleanly. Mistico still came off as the rudo in the end.

It was incredibly bold booking. It was also something CMLL quickly worked to undo; Mistico’s heel turn was dropped in a month. Nothing was done to resolve the issue between the two, with CMLL sort of keeping it going in the background but dropping it from the Friday night show. (They rematched on a Sunday show where Volador won again after a failed attempt by Mistico to cheat, but it’s not as well remembered.) Volador sort of remained in limbo until his rudo turn later in the year and Mistico lost to Volador one more time before leaving the company. CMLL groped around for new top tecnicos for a couple of years before finally accepting Volador was the only choice the fans hadn’t rejected, and he’s been the top face of CMLL since that point. Mistico, as Caristico, returned to in late 2015. He and Volador have faced off plenty since then, with Volador winning most of them. They’ve teamed too, though there seems to be hard to disguise disdain between them.

Volador & Caristico started the decade going at each other, they even started the year against each at FantasticaMania, and they’ll end it facing again in a singles match. It’s a coincidence, not a plan. CMLL talks a lot about history but doesn’t book with an appreciation of its own recent history that much. It is just the two names who happened to come up out of the small group of people CMLL trusts in main events in 2019. I’m not sure if this is the biggest CMLL rivalry of the decade or if either man is the CMLL biggest star of the last ten years – that feels like Ultimo Guerrero – but is an appropriate way to close it out.

The last CMLL card of the year, tonight in Arena Puebla, looks to be a quick one. There are only five matches, one of them is a lightning match, and none of them look like they should go long. Caristico/Volador is the main event. Angel de Oro & Felino meet once again in the semi-main, which may or may even mean anything at this point. CMLL currently has few ways it builds rivalries. It doesn’t seem to be a real feud unless there’s a rudo getting DQed for something and no one’s getting DQed between Angel de Oro & Felino lately.

Rey Cometa & Stigma are getting those DQs and meet in a lightning match. It seems fairly likely Cometa & Stigma are headed to a bigger match as soon as next week. Arkalis, Drone and Super Astro are a fun tecnico team against a non-fun rudo team of Malayo, Perverso and Toro Bill Jr. Asturiano & Rey Samuray team up with Millenium against Policeman, Fuerza Chicana and Black Tiger in the opener. It’s a normal 9 pm start on YouTube for this one.

01/11 MLW

• Aerostar vs Alex Hammerstone for the MLW Openweight Championship
• Drago & Puma King vs Taurus & Hijo de LA Park vs Jordan Oliver & Kotto Brazil

Diaro Basta has an interview with Titan. He says he got into lucha libre following Mistico and they point out he probably should’ve been Mistico II – the winner of the En Busca de Un Idolo tournament should’ve gotten it and maybe was intended to get it. Titan won instead of (then) Dragon Lee as CMLL planned, so they gave it to third place finisher instead.

Ovaciones has a profile of Okumura.