CMLL’s Aniversario takes place Friday. Some of you may be subscribing to the CMLL YouTube channel, and want to catch up on matches leading to the big show. Others may have drifted in and out and needed a refresher on the deal with the announced lineup. The good news is there really isn’t much you have to watch to get caught up. Only two of the seven were built on matches that happened. The rest are just CMLL putting some names together by fiat or running angles that didn’t involve a match. There’s not a lot of essential viewing, as common with a CMLL big show.
As requested by a reader, I’ve thrown together a list of the few essential matches worth watching. Also, so this post wouldn’t just be five matches long, I threw in a bunch of matches if you want to get a sense of what the other wrestlers have been up to lately. This is absolutely not a list of Every Good Match in CMLL; there’s been stuff like the Gran Prix and the Depredador cibernetico that are good which just didn’t fit.
I’ve broken it down match by match on the Aniversario. If you just have time for one show, the 07/26 CMLL card has the main feud and many of the other major players. I might argue that other shows are better, but that’ll cover enough of what you need to cover.
Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido
Required Viewing
- nothing! This is a match announced with no build. Both teams are regular units, but there’s no feud here – CMLL just thinks this will be a good match.
Related viewing
- 07/08 Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr., Max Star match with Los Indestructibles: this is where the tecnicos unexpectedly become a set unit
- 07/26 Futuro, Hombre Bala Jr, Max Star vs Magia Blanca, Magnus, Rugido: same two teams, good match
Neón, Star Jr., Templario vs Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
Required Viewing
- nothing! This is a “get everyone on the show” match.
Related Viewing
- 05/31 Star Jr. vs Angel de Oro in the Copa VIP final: It’s fine.
- 07/26 Star Jr. vs Angel de Oro in the Leyenda de Plata final: yes, again. It’s fine.
- 08/02 MJF vs Tempalrio: it’s probably good but CMLL working as AEW lucha libre fantasy camp leaves a certain taste in my mouth
- 08/23: Angel de Oro, Barbaro Cavernario, Soberano Jr. vs Atlantis., Blue Panther, Octagon Jr.: a great performance in getting a lot of the vets, maybe have gotten a couple of people their spots in this match
- 08/27 Angel de Oro vs Atlantis Jr.: shockingly good for a Tuesday, brace for an angle at the end
Máscara Dorada vs Titán in the Copa Independencia final
Required Viewing
Related Viewing
- 09/29/2023 Mascara Dorada vs Titan – last year’s MOTY is the reason they’re running this back
- 07/26 PAC, King, Lucha Brother vs Mascara Dorada, Volador Jr., Mistico: weird at the time, weirder now as the apparent AEW swanswong
- 08/02 PAC & Rocky Romero vs Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr.: like this one better
Willow Nightingale © vs Zeuxis for the CMLL Women’s Championship
Required Viewing
- Nothing! CMLL just announced the match (and also asked AEW not to change the title on their PPV)
Related Viewing
- 03/29 Willow Nightingale, Lluvia, Tessa Blanchard vs Zeuxis, Stephanie Vaquer, Lluvia
- 06/12 (AEW): Zeuxis vs Mercedes Moné
- 07/13 (NJPW): Willow Nightingale vs Lluvia vs Viva Van for the (vacant) CMLL Women’s Championship
Atlantis Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Kojima, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero
Required Viewing
- Nothing. The idea is this is a cross-promotional match with people you’d never expect to see.
Related Viewing
- 05/28 Kojima & Okumura vs Magnus & Rugido for the MLW Tag Team Championships: one of Kojima’s better appearances in Mexico
- 06/28 Atlantis Jr. versus Kyle Fletcher for the Ring of Honor Television Championship: a technically good match that left me a little cold
- 07/26 Ultimo Guerrero & Rocky Romero vs Templario & Titan: very good, blow off to a short Templario/UG feud
- Volador Jr. is in a lot of the matches listed elsewhere
Hechicero vs Esfinge vs Valiente vs Euforia [mask]
Required viewing
- 07/26 Euforia & Esfinge vs Hechicero & Valiente: watch the post match too
- 08/26 Esfinge vs Valiente vs Euforia [DailyMotion]
- 09/02 Esfinge vs Valiente vs Euforia vs Hechicero [Daily Motion] – you don’t absolutely have to see both of these. Note that Friday’s match has slightly different rules.
Related viewing:
- Every Friday match they’ve done against each other in the last 100 days is one option, though this definitely is overkill.
- 06/14: start
- 06/28
- 07/12: Valiente gets involved
- 07/19: Hechicero got involved on other shows but now is firmly in it
- 07/26: mentioned above
- 08/02: OK Valiente/Esfinge title match, better Hechicero/Euforia trios match
- 08/16: Valiente/Esfinge trios
- 08/30: Esfinge/Euforia trios
- 08/06: Valiente vs Neno: Valiente’s best match in this span
- 08/03: Valiente vs Hechicero: a lightning match
- 08/17: Esfinge vs Euforia: a lightning match
Chris Jericho versus Mistico
Required viewing
Related viewing
- Both Jericho and Mistico appeared on CMLL Informa to hype this, but you don’t have to watch it
- Fun Mistico matches appear in previous match previews.
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