CMLL Anniversary Show: 2015-09-18

Recapped: 10/14/2015

What happened: Atlantis unmasked Sombra. Dark Angel wrestled her last match in CMLL. Volador and Rush made hair match challenges, and Rush indicated he’d like to take on Atlantis next.

What was good: The mask match! The opening two trios matches were rather good. I liked the show more live than I did watching it out of context a month later, so maybe don’t do that.

Where can I watch it: Copies of the show are all over YouTube. The last two matches are on Lucha Azteca (though maybe edited.)

Match 1: Esfinge, Fuego, The Panther vs Disturbio, Puma, Virus
Arena México, 09/18/2015 

1. tecnicos
   • The Panther nudo lagunero Puma (5:09)
   • Fuego Flashina Disturbio (5:38)
2. rudos
   • Puma Stretch on The Panther (5:23)
   • Disturbio standing cloverleaf (5:52)
3. tecnicos
   • Esfinge cralde on Disturbio (5:11)
   • Virus Gori Bomb Fuego (5:55)

Winner: tecnicos (2-1)
Match Time: 17:25

Review: [good] energetic trios match, with far more going on than a usual trios match between these guys. They stepped it up for the Anniversary show, even in a kind of pointless match. Match was best in the first fall and close to the finish, with complex multiperson sequences. Puma and Disturbio aren’t Puma & Tiger but they had good team spots here while everyone else mostly seemed to fight as individuals. Disturbio getting major league gear is a plus. Esfinge’s spinning kick has gotten better since he started and his timing on his spots was generally good here. (Referee was typically bad, counting a submission on trademark pinfall.) The Panther came off better here than he has in most matches of late. Virus is very good, even if he didn’t have as much chance to show it in this one.

Match 2: Guerrero Maya Jr., Máximo, Stuka Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión
Arena México, 09/18/2015 

1. Revolucionarios
   • Dragon Rojo moonsault feet counter Stuka Jr. (3:54)
   • Super Pólvora Driver on Guerrero Maya Jr. (3:57)
2. tecnicos
   • Maximo kiss Rey Escorpion (3:36)
3. Revolucionarios
   • Rey Escorpion La Roca Maximo (10:04)

Winner: Revolucionarios (2-1)
Match Time: 17:37

Review: [good] another match that was clearly better because they were working at Anniversary level, though the previous one seemed more fun to me on the rewatch. This one had a lot of big moves in the last fall, but kind of lowered any pretense of a match to set up those big spots. Guerrero Maya Jr. giving Pólvora his double underhook piledriver and Pólvora being fine 30 seconds later was the peak of silliness (especially since another piledriver was the finish and treated as if Maximo had suffered an injury.) It was a lot of big move, set up, big move. The big moves were nice, and Maya’s tope into the crowd was good, it just didn’t hold together as well as the previous match. The reaction to Maximo didn’t come across as strongly on TV as it did live. I thought the Revolucionarios should get a win here and they did, but it also seems like a waste to have Maximo take the pin. Maximo did benefit from the internet version hiding his slip on the rope walk.

Match 3: Dark Angel vs Princesa Sugehit
Arena México, 09/18/2015 

Winner: Dark Angel reinera
Match Time: 16:33
Notes: Leobardo Magadan handles introductions for this match for whatever reason. Princesa Sugehit is said to be a ruda, listed as a tecnica. Dark Angel is given flowers by Panico and thanks the fans and Paco Alonso after the match.

Review: [OK] a theoretical good match that the crowd wanted to end ASAP so they could get to the stuff they came to see. Dark Angel was on, this was just a match the crowd wasn’t prepared or interested in seeing. It’s fairly obvious that many people in CMLL thought highly of Dark Angel, but they never succeeded in getting the importance of her farewell match over to the crowd that showed up for this show, and it was treated like two non-stars who were going way long. (It might have been because they were women, but my guess is a twelve minute Esfinge/Puma no stips match would’ve gotten a similar reaction.) They did go way long. It was eye opening when I figured out the times for the matches and realized this match was longer than the third fall of Sombra/Atlantis. That’s a lot to ask of people for a match where the outcome has no particular meaning to it, especially in front of casual fans. Other fans might have treated it better – this crowd was whistling six minutes in – but they dragged it too far for most audiences who aren’t long time fans of Dark Angel.

It also felt like the wrong kind of match for the occasion. Farewells are good times for the greatest hits. They veered towards heavy feuding – Dark Angel going for the mask, Sugehit not catching the dive – between two people who had stopped feuding and had no particular issue before this match was announced. They also built around a lot of near falls that no one believed or cared much about as near falls. No one wins without trying a finisher (or a foul), and they built around a lot of near falls and submissions that aren’t either women’s normal move, and there wasn’t the drama of the mask to get people to buy into it. It came off as doing moves to show you can do those moves, and the crowd just had two better matches for that. I don’t know that his crowd knew what moves these women use to finish, but they recognized they weren’t really doing them with the intensity to win. It seemed like the reaction got to them; Dark Angel & Sugehit were still doing their match, but just kind of hurrying thru it at the end.

Match 4: Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas vs Dragon Lee, Mistico, Valiente
Arena México, 09/18/2015 

1. Peste Negra
   • Nieblina on Mistico (2:43)
2. tecnicos
   • Mistico casita Negro Casas (2:37)
   • Valiente Buster on Felino (3:46)
3. tecnicos
   • Dragon Lee double stomp Negro Casas (5:51)
   • La Msitica on Mr. Niebla (6:08)

Winner: tecnicos (2-1)
Match Time: 12:37

Review: [ok] Mistico getting booed one every move he does on a big show is still kind of hilarious, but it’s kind of startling that this has clearly not worked for such a long time and there’s been no real attempt to try something different. The only change was positioning him in a trio instead of big singles matches, but that might just as much between by his injuries than this performance. This match was really as ill positioned as the last one, existing for some parallel universe where Mistico is a beloved figure and not the 6^th (or 5^th depending on how you feel about Felino) most popular person in this match. Dragon Lee looked the best on his side, but still was soundly booed in favor of Peste Negra. The best parts of this match were Dragon Lee & Negro Casas in together, and there wasn’t enough of that. Mr. Niebla was fine and caught the big moves well, thought the spot with him sort of tossing Felino over the top rope was bizarre. Everything else was worked well, but this felt like the least of three conventional trios matches and less impressive on the rewatch.

Match 5: Shocker, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs Marco Corleone, Rush, Thunder in a relevos increíbles match
Arena México, 09/18/2015 
Video: thecubsfan

1. team Rush
   • Marco Corleone Aero Italiana Shocker (2:43)
   • Thunder top rope plancha Ultimo Guerrero (2:43)
2. team Volador
   • Ultimo Guerrero senton de la muerte Thunder (3:27)
   • Shocker middle elbow drop Marco Corleone (3:27)
3. team Volador
   • DQ Rush [referee attack] (6:50)

Winner: team Volador
Match Time: 13:00
Notes: Rush attacked Tirantes for no real reason in the third fall. Volador and Rush made hair match challenges after.

Review: [OK] Generous grade. Tough to care about this one on the second time thru knowing the lame finish. Thunder is even slower on TV, and no one seemed to care much about him and Ultimo Guerrero on this night. (The alternate universe where that’s the main event to this year’s Anniversary show would’ve been incredible.) Volador and Rush were way over and good when they were in, which was not enough. Shocker & Marco were in an unfortunate position; they really could’ve just gone to a straight tag match when Park & Wagner dropped out without missing anything, though Shocker’s tope near the end was crazy.

Match 6: Atlantis vs La Sombra for the mask
Arena México, 09/18/2015 
Video: thecubsfan 

1. DQ [Rush interference] (6:22)
2. Shadow Driver (1:55)
3. Atlantida (16:13)

Winner: Atlantis
Match Time: 24:30
Notes: Edgar is referee. Volador and Rush begin as referee. Rush repeatedly attacks Atlantis on the outside during the first fall, always behind Edgar’s back. Rush pulls Edgar out of the ring when Atlantis has Sombra pinned about 6 minutes in. (Notable, Sombra never kicks out.) Edgar returns to the ring and immediately gives the fall to Atlantis. Rush protests, and Volador attacks him. Sombra pulls Volador off and both Ingobernables argue with Edgar. Rush rips off his shirt to face Volador, but Jose Luis Mendita gets on the apron and ejects him (and Volador while he’s at it.) Rush argues, threatens violence, and walks away but to the back. Volador goes to the back first. Rush and Sombra talk on the ramp and Rush argues some more with JML. Sombra’s finally able to talk Rush into leaving after some fist pounds. It’s about a 2.5 minute break between falls. Sombra wins fall two clean. Rush runs out late in the third fall, just as Atlantis is getting Sombra up in Atlantida. Edgar’s distracted. It’s not clear on TV if Sombra gives up (but it seemed like he waved submission live.) Sombra takes advantage to land the double knee smash, but can’t finish off Atlantis. Sombra tries a martinete, Edgar breaks it up, and Sombra runs into the Atlantida for the win. Sombra is surrounded by his father and his uncles as he gives up his mask. Rush makes motions about challenging Atlantis next as he and Sombra walk away.

Review: [excellent] all time great mask match that exceeded expectations and the drama of previous years. Ultimo Guerrero’s mask may have meant more because of his career length, but this was the better match for a regular fan, full of unexpected twists and turns which still made sense, and both guys going far beyond ordinary. I really have a tough time separating how it felt to be at these big matches and how it felt to be there live. This is an excellent match on TV, something you know is going to be special from the moment Sombra walks onto the stage, and it was something even more in person. There are little things, like how Sombra had to adjust swiftly to land his double moonsault, which really aren’t captured on video (and some, like the German superplex, looked much more impressive from the angle I sat at), but there’s also the general atmosphere of being there. This is about as loud as crowd gets on CMLL TV, and it still isn’t accurately loud. Unlike the women’s match, the stakes were so big that people were willing to talk themselves into the near falls even when they should’ve known better. There’s an Atlantis powerbomb not five minutes into the third fall, it would’ve been the first time in his life Atlantis ever won a match via powerbomb, and people were still living and dying on it, and on every close call for the next ten minutes. This was an exciting match and smartly set up one.