The Puerto Rician invasion in CMLL starts in this group of matches. Puerto Rico and Mexico both call it lucha libre but the style differs a bit.
Apolo Dantés, Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. beat Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Vampiro
(Arena México @ 06/09, 13:04, 1/3, ok, Kozmic Trooths)
Heat building exercise to set up next week’s match, with the rudos holdings the tecnicos down for what felt like forever to get that reaction. Apolo probably didn’t need to bleed for this one; he still gets the best of Rayo in the end, maybe save the blood for the time where Rayo is actually going to win. Gran Markus’ gear makes him look massive, and Vampiro looks impressive being able to get him up for a slam. Wagner and Vampiro work a lot better here than they have in other matches.
Apolo Dantés beat Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in a Number One Contenders Match for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship
(Arena México @ 06/16, 7:51, 1/3, ok, Kozmic Trooths)
Do you like people pulling each other up on pins, communicating they don’t really care about the title shot they’re going for? This is for you. Apolo & Rayo fight like an apuesta match is coming up, not a championship one. It feels like either we’re missing an apuesta match from this time period or plans took a big left turn. Rayo has enough horrendous looking moments to get the crowd to boo him and won’t stay down for the (weak) finish; Vampiro seems like the superior Dantes opponent at this point.
Dr. Wagner Jr., Foreign Exchange, Miguel Perez Jr. beat Atlantis, Dos Caras, Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
(Arena México @ 06/23, 12:35, 2/3, ok, rnrwrassling)
Video Note: Usually there’s not too much difference between the two uploads for this error and I just grab at random. This one is up twice but is much better on Alfredo’s rnrwrassling channel.
The Puerto Rico crew show up more often in CMLL for the rest of the year, though I haven’t really checked to see how we actually see them. Foreign Exchange (Jose Estrada) is fine, though his gimmick feels like an unsuccessful attempt to create an AAA feeling character. The day-glow green and purple mix do not hold up well. Wagner shows more charisma than recent matches and they tease Wagner & Atlantis’ faces to the crowd to get a reaction, but the match isn’t much.
Silver King beat Apolo Dantés © for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship
(Arena México @ 06/23, 13:53, 1/3, ok, rnrwrasslin)
a Silver King backdrop driver in the middle of the second fall which makes me wonder how Apolo Dantes has a functioning neck. (I think he did eventually get neck surgery, though maybe not just for this.) Silver and Dantes sit on the mat, talk for a moment about it, and then life just goes on. It’s so weird. This eventually turns good – it actually ends just as it really starts getting good – but it is a lot of collection of ideas with no real focus. The backdrop drive exists like the long figure four rolling spot, feeling like something one of them (Silver King) saw on a VHS and wanted to use but didn’t really have a purpose. Silver seems so physically talented in this match, doing a moonsault escape into a superkick as pretty as Fenix does in 2020, but there are other parts of his game that are not present. He comes off as the more impressive wrestler than Apolo and Dantes win doesn’t feel totally earned.
There’s a nice touch here where seconds Texano and Arkangel are both wearing personalized gear for the guys in the match. The fashion question I’m most curious about is how Apolo Dantes ended up winning the heavyweight title while wearing El Hijo del Santo’s boots. They were Santo silver and had his eye hole logo on them. Santo is still in AAA at this point.
Head Hunter I & Head Hunter II beat Silver King & Texano © for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
(Arena México @ 06/30, 11:00, 1/3, ok, Alex Marin)
There are edits in most of these matches. An edit makes the third fall particularly hard to follow: one of the Headhunters gets eliminated off-screen. The commentators mention the match being 1v1, but it’s never shown until the replays after the match. The finish is the Head Hunters pulling an illegal switch, which doesn’t seem particularly illegal unless you have that knowledge.
This was not the athleticism of the Silver King/Apolo Dantes match, but a much clearer story. The Cowboys have trouble dealing with and surviving the Head Hunters huge size, and it’s a big a moment whenever they can manage. (Silver King got a bigger reaction for slamming both Head Hunters then he got for his backdrop driver in the last match.) This era of CMLL apparently requires rudos to cheat to win so these do as well, but Silver King & Texano can barely deal with their size in a fair battle. It’s simple and effective.
La Sombra, Solar I, Solar II beat Damián el Guerrero, Guerrero del Futuro, Guerrero Maya
(Arena México @ 07/14, 17:27, good, 2/3, Kozmic Trooths)
A lot of what I’ve come across has been either main event blow-off matches or trios with some strangeness in the finish to build to those blowoff matches. This is instead a professional midcard match, very well done. It wouldn’t feel out of place in 2020, with a lot of technically sound wrestlers working hard. I’m not sure I’ve actually seen this previous La Sombra in action, and he looked good. He’s a bit more aerial than the Solars but similarly smooth, coming off like an earlier version of Guerrero Maya Junior. The actual earlier Guerrero Maya and Guerrero del Futuro are good foils for the tecnicos. Damian el Guerrero does not come off well, trying for acrobatic ideas he can’t really pull off. This might be a great match with just one more solid wrestler, but it’s still pretty good with who’s in there.