Day: February 14, 2020

CMLL on Marca: 2020-02-14

thecubsfan
Bandido

Recapped: 2020-02-14

Matches:

Cancerbero & Raziel beat Eléctrico & Oro Jr.
(14:46 [7:01, 4:48, 2:57], 2/3, ok)

Amapola, Dalys, Reyna Isis beat Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Tsukushi
(17:35 [8:15, 2:46, 6:34], 1/3, ok)

Atlantis Jr., Valiente, Volador Jr. beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas
(8:55 [2:49, 2:29, 3:37], 1/3, ok)

The dumb battle royal went 3:25

Diamante Azul & Gilbert el Boricua beat Guerrero Maya Jr. & Universo 2000 Jr. in a torneo nacional increible eighthfinal
(9:03, ok)

El Bandido & Último Guerrero beat Flyer & Hechicero in a torneo nacional increible eighthfinal
(4:47, ok)

Carístico & Forastero beat Mephisto & Titán in a torneo nacional increible eighthfinal
(5:28, ok)

Felino & Niebla Roja beat Dulce Gardenia & Okumura in a torneo nacional increible eighthfinal
(6:02, ok)

El Bandido & Último Guerrero beat Diamante Azul & Gilbert el Boricua in a torneo nacional increible quarterfinal
(3:38, ok)

Carístico & Forastero beat Felino & Niebla Roja in a torneo nacional increible quarterfinal
(3:53, ok)

Carístico & Forastero beat El Bandido & Último Guerrero in a torneo nacional increible semifinal
(7:11, good)

What happened:

adios

Forastero & Caristico won three matches, advancing to the 02/28 tournament final.

Thoughts:

CMLL had to be thrilled with how the tournament went. Most of the matches aren’t worth going out of your way to see standalone, but the hour of matches coalesced into an entertaining product. The Ultimo Guerrero & Bandido team was about as successful as could be possible in three matches. They had great teamwork, and most of that teamwork was about Bandido doing something incredible. Bandido & Caristico also meshed great in the block final, with Caristico pulling off moves he’d never try normally. I’m not sure what more should be done with Bandido and UG, but this is the most effective Bandido has come across in CMLL.

That team was the best, despite not winning. They weren’t the only contributors. Caristico & Forastero were less exciting but still a solid winner. Dulce Gardenia continues to get moreover, producing the biggest reaction for a Okumura match in a long time. (It seemed a mistake to eliminate Gardenia after one match.) Hechicero & Guerrero Maya appeared extra motivated by the opportunity to face different people, playing off Bandido & Mesias well. Titan & Mephisto had the best matching gear and made the most of a short rudo bit. The crowd bought into this tournament, especially the final, making this a better watch than it seemed when the opener was getting no reaction.

The tercera was the shortest of the three opening trios matches, though they did much more than expected giving Volador’s unhappy expression walking to the ring. It was a race through the tecnico highspots, only broken up by the rudos quickly winning the second fall. Negro Casas seemed determined to break himself, between taking the Valiente tope and a hard tumble out of the ring. Atlantis Jr. has two good runs of offense in every match and no more. Though that seems to be the case for most every midcard CMLL tecnico.

Bandido tornillo

The rating on this Friday’s women’s match and last weeks is the same, but this was the more successful of the two. Tsukushi got a good showcase to start the match and came off as more of a star this time around. The rest of the action was steady if not impressive; it didn’t drag as much as last week despite going just about as long. The Dalys backbreaker was an impressive spot.

Raziel kicking Oro Jr. directly in the side of the head wasn’t nice. Neither was the rest of the opener. The rudos mailed it in with no particular speed or quality, blowing one of their double teams in an obvious fashion. They didn’t give the tecnicos much outside the first fall and there’s no great need to watch this one.

CMLL’s Torneo Nacional Increible de Parejes begins tonight

thecubsfan 2 Comments

CMLL kicks of the Torneo Nacional Incredibles de Parejas tonight. This tournament has recently been used to give a spotlight to wrestlers or set up storylines for later in the year. Titan & Barbaro Cavernario won last year and ended up a little higher on the cards for it. Rush & Terrible won in 2018, which set up Terrible joining that version of Los Ingobernables. The Homenaje a Dos Leyendas card is set, so this seems likely about giving someone more attention for later.

It feels like the winner is probably coming from Block B, because Block A has no strong favorite. Flyer & Hechicero, Dulce Garednia & Okumura and Guerrero Maya & Universo 2000 Jr. all are teams likely to go out without winning a match. Mephisto & Titan is probably the same, despite Titan winning last year. Felino & Niebla Roja would also be the same, though there’s an outside chance of CMLL having the Cavernario & Felino teams meet in the final as a Homenaje a Dos Leyendas preview. That’d just be unusual for them. Bandido & Ultimo Guerrero would be strong favorites, but Bandido is already announced for Ring of Honor on the day of the final. Gilbert & Diamante Azul are always talked about as imposing figures and perhaps this will be time they actually win, though Azul accidentally hitting Gilbert with the ramp clothesline seems more to form. That leaves Caristico & Forastero as the team with the best chance, and Forastero is a guy who seems to exist only to lose singles match to the top guys. Maybe that means none of the teams have a chance and a wild card team is more likely, since they’ll be losing in the final anyway.

CMLL tournament shows used to be unwatchable. There have been better ones in recent year, with CMLL allowing a few more minutes to each match to let them develop. The success is inconsistent, but there may be a good match here or there.

The rest of the card is standard CMLL fare. Valiente & Volador Jr. team with Atlantis against Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Negro Casas, in as close as they can come to a world trios match preview. Tsukushi finishes her run (presumably) by teaming with Marcela & Princesa Sugehit against Amapola, Dalys and Reyna Isis. Cancerbero & Raziel open against Electrico & Oro Jr.

The show will stream at 8:30. I have nothing stopping me from streaming this show, which is sad for me but useful for people who live in the US or Japan, so watch Twitter for the usual link.

Block B

Five more teams will be announced by the time the poster comes out on Friday. This will be Guerrera’s first CMLL Arena Mexico on a normal show – not a legend’s match, not an Elite show, just showing up to have a match – since 2004.

CMLL has brought back Momentos Estelares, which seems to happen for a few weeks every couple of years. They’re all clips from last Friday.

Producciones TC, which appears to be a new promotion, is running Arena Naucalpan today with Pagano vs Dr. Wagner vs Mr. Aguila. Non-IWRG shows don’t seem to stream of late.

LA Park’s match versus Eddie Kingston in London’s Revolution Pro is happening today, which means this afternoon may be filled with upset English people on Twitter complaining about something he’s done. I’m excited. I will be disappointed if this goes calmly.

03/28 RIOT (“Trusa”)

AAA has a list of the top 5 romances for Valentine’s Day. Diario Basta writes about different lucha libre couples.

Puma King talks about his start in lucha libre.

Referee El Toby, who promotes Arena Neza, is said to be in poor health.

There’s a charity show for Discovery on Sunday in Berwyn.