CMLL TV October 2020 catchup

Some non-Ticketmaster matches that seemed interesting from about a month ago. Most of them turned out not be interesting.

Dulce Gardenia vs Virus
(12:17, 10/03, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

There’s probably a good Gardenia/Virus there but the energy wasn’t there without a crowd. Dulce is good enough that he should be able to have an entertaining match with those reactions, but I haven’t seen it yet. CMLL hasn’t used him much in anything significant, so maybe they have similar concerns.

Tiger & Virus vs Espíritu Negro & Rey Cometa
(15:11, 10/09, good, Google Drive)

Easily enjoyable tag match, the kind of match hoped for on the B-shows. This appears taped before the Aniversario show – Espiritu Negro doesn’t have his new gear yet – and fits in with the tags the Atrapasuenos were doing in the lead up to the tag title match. Rey Cometa & Tiger have faced each other so many times that they’ve been molded into great opponents for each other. Cometa eats it on Tiger’s superkick and powerbomb, Tiger’s a rare rudo who actually sells something instead of standing blankly waiting for the stage dive. 

Súper Astro Jr. vs Sonic
(10:36, 10/10, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

I’m not sure the lightweight title ever needs to return but this seems like a good idea for the final. That title match would probably be better than this, which felt like a disjointed lightning match thanks to the fall breaks. (Why aren’t they running lightning matches?) There’s no great chemistry here but they’re both spectacular enough to do more if asked.

Soberano Jr. vs Forastero
(15:17, 10/10, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Entertaining enough for CMLL empty arena wrestling but a little bit sloppy at times. The action-packed Soberano matches work with if the action looks good. They couldn’t get it totally together, especially early. There also was a lot of spot communicating that was hard to ignore, and Metalico blew a pinfall count in the second fall. This a lot of criticism for a match I generally liked, but it also showed neither of these guys are yet good enough to carry a match on their own. 

Diamante Azul & El Bandido vs Cuatrero & Sansón
(14:27, 10/20, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Just average match, feeling thrown together. Diamante Azul currently has the plodding speed of an ogre. He also threw a lot of punches for a guy who’s not good at punches. He’s got to be close to retiring the ramp dive bit because it keeps coming closer to disaster; Azul barely made it over this time. Bandido is another outsider who comes into CMLL and seems less special than more he’s around.

Flyer & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Disturbio & Virus
(14:12, 10/16, ok, Google Drive)

I hoped this would be Maya & Virus working against each other, but they mostly face the other person on the team. This turns out to be a pattern; Maya and Virus keep wrestling tag matches on the empty arena shows but don’t actually wrestle each other all that much. It’s fun to see Maya be mean to Disturbio but it’s outweighed by Flyer submitting Virus later on. Flyer’s current state is currently personified by the second fall finish here, a huracanrana on Disturbio where Flyer looks for the legs to hook with his arms on the pin, continues to look, realizes he has failed, and simply gives up.

Mephisto vs Soberano Jr.
(12:10, 10/23, ok, Google Drive)

Fine, but nothing to see unless you want to see Mephisto do a Canadian Destroyer. He’s going to have as an interesting match as the person he’s facing, Soberano is a guy who wants to do a lot of the same spots, so this match wasn’t going to be much beyond those familiar spots. It needed a crowd who cared, and the fake crowd noise working hard wasn’t enough in this one.