CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-01-12 

Recapped: 01/12/2018

Matches:

Eléctrico & Stukita beat Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
(11:55 [4:02, 2:55, 4:58], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cancerbero, Raziel, Universo 2000 Jr. beat Flyer, Pegasso, Stigma
(16:42 [6:18, 4:59, 5:25], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Sagrado, Tiger, Virus beat Blue Panther Jr., The Panther, Tritón  
(15:00 [6:54, 4:13, 3:53], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Titán beat Rey Cometa in a lightning match
(8:01, figure four cradle, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Valiente beat Ephesto, Mephisto, Sam Adonis
(9:01 [2:54, 2:09, 3:58], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Carístico, Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone beat Kráneo, Vangellys, Terrible
(12:22 [4:52, 2:47, 4:43], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened: 

Shocker was supposed to be in this match, then Mr. Niebla, and it ended up with a rare Friday night Vangellys main event. Terrible and Diamante Azul feuded, with Azul pinning Terrible cleanly after stopping a foul and a mask pull.

Negro Casas appeared before the match, giving Blue Panther a present to give to Sam Adonis. It was a new USA flag. Adonis started waving it around without realizing the image in the center was of a bald Donald Trump. Sam also tried wearing his wig all match, only for it to get pulled off just before the end of the match.

The opener was Electrico’s final minis match. He will start in the main division in two weeks.

Thoughts:

The main event looked like an off night show closer and played out that way for the most part. Marco had good timing on his spots, and Kraneo was amusing as always. Vangellys and Carístico did not have a lot of chemistry, though I’m not sure Carístico would’ve done much better with Mr. Niebla or Shocker. Terrible and Diamante Azul didn’t really do enough to give a sense of how that title match is going to work, but I’d be disappointed if Terrible lose it already.

The bald Trump flag was an inventive way to keep a sidelined Negro Casas still a little bit involved with Adonis, and gave a bit more energy to what looked like a normal match on paper. Blue Panther played Adonis enemy well, so much that third fall couldn’t start due to him waving around the flagpole empty. This was a fine enough match made fun by the little extra thought.

Titan/Rey Cometa was an inventive lightning match. It wasn’t the throw everything at the wall match like with Dragon Lee and Titan, but a more building back and forth match. Their was a clear story that Titan had far surpassed Rey Cometa. Everything Cometa could do, Titan could do a little bit better. Cometa pushed Titan to have an entertaining match, but didn’t come all that cross to winning. Matches with definite winners and losers can work too.

Triton walking the ropes to set up the headscissors was incredible in the tercera, but it couldn’t save the rest of his team. T. Panther had some good moments, especially taking Tiger’s DDT. Blue Panther Jr. somehow messed up a roll up with the same Tiger. Sagrado is a fine jerk, but this match was more memorable parts than a complete picture for me.

The second match followed the first with the same layout. The rudos methodically took apart the técnicos for two falls before finally giving an opening. The difference here were the rudos also taking chunks of the third fall for no narrative reason. Raziel at least did some interesting mat work early, but this was a struggle to watch. Universo 2000 Jr. really had a tough time during the comeback and never really was all that good.

The opener should’ve been an Eléctrico exhibition, a showcase of why you should want to follow Eléctrico in the main division. The opener was instead an explanation of why Eléctrico would want out of the minis. The rudos were literally walking thru spots for the first two falls, just going thru their usual offense in a bored fashion. Stukita gave the match a little bit of life in the third. Eléctrico looked alright when he finally got his chance, but just alright – it wasn’t Fiero’s final match, and these rudos were definitely not Templario. It was just the same average minis match as always.