CMLL Arena Mexico 2016-03-29 

Recapped: 2016-03-29, all matches from Arena México of the same day

What You Need To Know

• Esfinge & Volador won a fun Gran Alternativa block, and will face Raijin and Rey Escorpion in the tournament final next week. There’s no match you need to watch and it may lose it a bit knowing the outcomes, but it was a fun Tuesday night viewing and better than last week.
• Mephisto pinned Volador once more before their title match on Sunday.
• Yago & Golden Magic looked good in their first streaming appearance, and Warrior Steel is at least interesting.
• All the Boricuas are acting as if the storyline where Pierroth quit the group and said Misterioso & Sagrado weren’t any good never happened.

Match Results for Result Databases

Shockercito & Astral (replacing Stukita) defeated Mercurio & Pierrothito [14:38, good] – 2 falls to 1 (6:54, 3:09, 4:35)
Canelo Casas, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado defeated Hombre Bala Jr., Magnus, Súper Halcón Jr. [11:27, ok]- 2 falls to 1 (5:09, 2:08, 4:10)
Atlantis, Mistico, Valiente defeated  Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero [ok, ~8:07] – 2 falls to 1 (~2:45, 2:01, 3:21)

— Gran Alternativa Block B—

Warrior Steel & Golden Magic win seeding battle royal [3:47]
Mascara Dorada & Pegasso defeated Terrible & Sansón [5:03]
Mephisto & Yago defeated Raijin & Pierroth [4:33]
Esfinge & Volador Jr. defeated La Mascara & Stigma [7:29]
Golden Magic & Rush defeated Warrior Steel & Mr. Niebla [4:59]
Mephisto & Yago defeated Mascara Dorada & Pegasso [3:08]
Esfinge & Volador Jr defeated Rush & Golden Magic [5:59; Rush DQed for mask pull after Golden Magic was eliminated]
Esfinge & Volador Jr. defeated Mephisto & Yago [9:05]

Thoughts

The tournament was pretty fun. They gave the right matches plenty of time, and everyone was working hard or quickly eliminated. The outcome probably shouldn’t have been in doubt, but there was enough unexpected outcomes to keep suspense until the end. The whole segment got more than 40 minutes of time, and the variety and of the lucahdors kept it interesting.

Esfinge is going to the final, but Yago was probably the biggest story of this match. He looked good for a rookie, got much father than anyone expected (he seemed figured to be one and done) and interestingly seemed costumed like a junior members of Los Infernales. His mask was a variation of Mephisto’s normal version, and he was wearing the same evil monk robe Averno used to wear. Maybe it’s just a one time bit for the team, but it’s more than just wearing a Hijos del Averno shirt like Hijo del Signo and others have done in past years.

Golden Magic looked spectacular, outshining Esfinge easily in their tag match. Really, the three Esfinge matches were the best matches, though Esfinge never seemed to be part of the reason. He didn’t mess anything up, but he showed nothing we haven’t seen from him in Copa Junior or En Busca de un Idolo. (That’s also a reminder this is the third rookie tournament in less than a year he’s going deep in.) There were some good match layouts and character moments in those three matches, and Volador seemed to be working hard as his partner.

Anyway, on the “Is Golden Magic actually in CMLL?” watch, he was treated no different than Warrior Steel or Yago, a new-ish CMLL guy with no real mention of him being from Elite. Those three are all supposed to be on Informa tomorrow to talk more. There’s some interesting ripple effects if Magic is now CMLL – it’d say Elite either doesn’t consider the indie guys as their guys or doesn’t mind their fellow promotion taking them (odd for separate groups) and it sets a precedent of impressing on Elite bookings as a gateway to get into CMLL proper. It may not happen again, but it makes those Elite spots even more valuable to indie guys looking for a break.

Warrior Steel is a giant guy by CMLL standards, looking like a taller Uro Rocker. He pulled out a handspring splash, which was impressive, but I’m not sure how he’s going to fit in early matches. They started him in a tercera, so maybe he just won’t be in those, but asking him to work with tricky flyers might be beyond him. It’s too early to tell.

The rest of the show was OK, but nothing more than appetizers for the tournament. I liked the opener the best, but even it started slow and missed the charisma of Stukita. The big spots near the end got the crowd a little bit into it, and the rudos did well to set up the técnicos for those spots.

The second match was the usual Boricuas match, with the técnicos seeming toned down (and Magnus getting nothing out of being moved up from his usual spot.) It’s very glaring CMLL either hasn’t thought out what Pierroth quitting means for the rest of the Boricuas, because they’re basically pretending it hasn’t happened. I don’t expect that to change.

The tercera was a lesser version of the rushed main event from Arena Puebla – it felt as hurried, but had a lot less spots (and some stream problems.) Valiente stumbled on one move, but pulled out a springboard we haven’t seen from him in a while. Mistico got in his big high spot with Euforia; I wish it was a longer list of guys he felt comfortable with those spots, but at least he’s doing some of it now. Ultimo Guerrero did not seem to be in a great mood.