CMLL on Marca: 2018-10-26 

Recapped: 10/27/2018

Matches:

Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado beat Príncipe Diamante & Star Jr.
(9:21 [3:49, 2:18, 3:14], 2/3, bad, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora beat Drone, Fuego, Pegasso
(9:36 [4:52, 4:44], 1/2, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Templario defeats Esfinge, Audaz, Black Panther, Tritón, Flyer, Cuatrero, Forastero, Guerrero Maya Jr., Virus, Kawato San, Tiger to challenge for the Rey del Inframundo championship next week
(24:45, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

1. Triton guillotine legdrop Kawato (7:39)
2. Virus fujiwara armbar Black Panther (8:55)
3. Audaz tornado armbar Tiger (10:42)
4. Forastero head and arm submission Triton (13:03)
5. Cuatrero inverted bearhug Audaz (13:44)
6. Flyer hammerlock Virus (15:10)
7. Templario suspended armbar/leglock Guerrero Maya (16:26)
8. Esfinge springboard splash Forastero (17:53)
9. Cuatrero crucifix Flyer (19:07)
10. Esfinge nudo Egipico Cuatrero (20:43)
11. Templario gutwrench super powerbomb (24:45)

Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja beat Cavernario, Dark Magic, Negro Casas
(14:31 [6:20, 8:11], 1/2 DQ, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Carístico, Diamante Azul, Valiente beat La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible in a relevos increíbles match
(9:25 [4:04, 1:32, 3:49], 1 DQ/3 DQ, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened: 

The first fall in the ring ended with “too long in the ring” DQ, with Edgar rapidly counting to get that intended finish to happen. Rush fouled Carístico in the third, then they unmasked the tecnicos.

Cavernario and Místico feuded in the semi-main, with Cavenrario unmasking Místico for the DQ.

A guardian of hell appeared before and after the Rey del Inframundo to hype up next week’s Sansón/Templario match

Thoughts:

On one hand, the main event went short and had two disqualification finishes. On the other hand, it wasn’t going to be good anyway so maybe I’m ok with the pain being quick. Besita remains terrible. He gave Valiente no protection on his superbomb. It looked bad and it was only luck it didn’t go worse. Bestia also made the minimal effort on Valiente’s dive. This didn’t feel as much the start of a feud as the Ingobernables getting to do their thing against unwilling victims.

The semi-main got more time than the earlier two fall match. It wasn’t a lot better for it. There was lots of Místico and Cavernario in their match, primarily because they were feuding and secondary because it meant other people were being kept out. Dark Magic is very limited. They can’t hide his limitations, but they ask don’t ask him to do anything that’ll look bad. (He still didn’t know to move out of Zacarias way for his 619.) Negro Casas only works limited potions of matches too, which sidelined Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja for a lot of the match. Místico & Cavernario had some highlights but it wasn’t their best match and weren’t enough to make this meaningful on its own.

The cibernetico was a good, but not the great match it could’ve been with the people involved. It was entertaining while missing a really high-level stretch. There were more people having a bad day than anyone stepping up for the occasion. Esfinge lasted to the final while seemingly doing nothing more than he’d do in a usual trios match. Templario looked great because of the time, but it’s hard to credit anyone else who benefited. Audaz & Templario did some spectacular things while also looking like they were a little off – Audaz’s kick and the wrist grab spot were not quite on point, and he didn’t get a lot of time to make up for it. Black Panther has now gotten eliminated quickly in two straight ciberneticos. That seems like a bad sign for him. The Tiger catch spot was the most disappointing spot of the night – the técnicos seemed like they were surprised they actually caught him and couldn’t come up with a quick plan to use him. Flyer did not special, and was off more than he was on. His series with Virus was not good. This was good by the rule of having 12 people do a lot of offense is going to produce an exciting match, and this turned out good because Templario won (though on a messed up pin), but it was a little bit less than I’d hope.

The straight falls gimmick is at least producing faster-paced matches. There’s no killing time rudo beatdown when they’re working under ten minutes. This still had a bit of a técnico comeback and a big series of moves near the finish without something in the middle. It did miss any really stand out individual performance because this little amount of time means there’s not a chance to highlight someone without completely freezing out other people. I guess Drone was the best guy, but it wasn’t really a match where there could be just one person. The match was a definite big improvement over the opener.

A lot of the openers are not fun to watch because no one does much of anything. They were trying to do things in the opener here. They were just awful at doing them. Sagrado had been one of the best rudos who gets nothing to do in CMLL, but his performance has slipped in recent times and he was not good at all here. Star Jr. was also noticeably worse than usual. Misterioso isn’t usually this bad. I wonders if being in an opener got them to mentally, because these guys were not into this one mentally at all.