CMLL on Marca: 2019-07-19 (Liger Farewell)

Recapped: 07/19/2019

Matches:

Sonic & Súper Astro Jr. beat Cancerbero & Raziel
(13:05 [4:47, 3:10, 5:08], 2/3, ok, 00:00:25)

Ángel de Oro, Esfinge, Niebla Roja beat Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno
(11:01 [5:39, 5:22], 1/2 DQ, ok, 00:19:41)

Marcela © beat Amapola for the CMLL World Women’s Championship
(12:40 [4:29, 1:48, 6:23], 2/3, ok, 00:39:07)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón, Volador Jr. beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Soberano Jr., Templario in a relevos increíbles match
(14:20 [3:28, 2:58, 7:54], 2/3, good, 01:00:35)

Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, LA Park Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, Místico, Rush
(24:55 [4:00, 1:56, 18:59], 1/3, good, 01:26:13)

Jushin Liger beat Carístico, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero in a Relevo CMLL match
(11:17, Liger Bomb on Casas, good, 02:14:30)

What happened:

Jushin Liger wrestled his final match in Arena Mexico, defeating Negro Casas in the first ever Relevo CMLL match. Liger was celebrated before and after the match.

LA Park and Rush brawled thru the arena in their latest match, pulling rows of seats and throwing at each other (when CMLL would allow that to be shown.) Rush’s family never actually lost a fall, getting counted out after the dives in the first fall and losing either due to fouls or for shoving the referee in the last fall. Park & Rush teased the mask versus hair match, but they were not allowed to talk on the microphones after the match.

Sanson appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in the fourth match but recovered quickly.

The second match ended oddly, with Hechicero being disqualified for kicking the middle rope to foul Angel de Oro as he came in the ring. Angel de Oro sold it as a foul, though the rudos reacted strongly like they didn’t expect that to be the finish.

Thoughts:

This was a strong show despite what would traditionally be called a great match. The presentation of the main event made it come off as a giant important deal. The crowd’s intense interest in seeing LA Park & Rush even when some things didn’t go as planned. This felt like a big show.

Caristico, Ultimo Guerrero and Negro Casas had a good match that was helped by the important of the moment. Liger got to work with each CMLL wrestler because of the weird format. It progressed to the happy ending of Liger winning after everyone hit a few of their key spots. Liger’s getting out at the right time but didn’t feel too old for this moment at all. This wasn’t an epic and I’m not sure that’s going to ever be possible for a Relevo CMLL (assuming we see another one.) It did give enough of what people wanted to see out of this moment.

LA Park & Rush also gave the people what they wanted to see, except for the mask versus hair challenge. Rush & Park clearly still want that match and made a point of making sure the fans knew and felt the same when they were done. The match had the wildness and excitement that’s lacking in most CMLL shows, though it had some egregious flaws. The finish was almost messed up because perennially forgetful La Bestia del Ring went out of the ring at the wrong time. That’s expected at this point, less expected is Rush forgetting to stop Edgar for counting three or kickout, making for a very awkward situation. Mistico was predictably hated by this crowd but he and Hijo de LA Park did well as second bananas. LA Park Jr. tried but didn’t have much to work with Bestia as his normal opponent. The magic is still there with Park & Rush but CMLL treated this like a one-off thing to help fill a house and not the start of a build to September.

The atomicos match was a struggle early, with spots not going as planned and nothing really clicking until the end of the second fall. (They really caught a break that Sanson’s shoulder wasn’t as bad as it looked since he was a huge part of that fall’s finish.) Volador seemed happy to wrestle a bit as a rudo, Soberano seemed eager to try out more spots with his Guerrero friends assisting and it went a lot better for Volador than it did Soberano. There’s a weird bit here where NGD both are booked as a stronger team than the Guerreros and also came off as better than this particular lineup, but have the lesser trios titles with no sign of that changing. This particular match didn’t totally work but they did find an extra gear in that third fall to make it exciting. The top three are all worth checking out.

The crowd seemed to really get into Amapola and Marcela by the end. The same match seemed slow and not well performed from my screen. Amapola almost wiping herself out with her old tope con giro thru the ropes proved a point to me; these women still try to wrestle like they did eight years ago but it doesn’t work for them. Marcela was the better of the two but she wasn’t great. Still, the crowd cared about the near falls, which means there probably isn’t any incentive to change this.

The second match was going along fine until the abrupt finish. I’d believe any story about what was supposed to happen, from Hechicero having a strange idea for a two fall match or the referee totally screwing up. I thought it was a referee screw up live and a planned spot rewatching it later. Either way, it still felt like they cut it off just as it was breaking out of the usual spots. You can safely skip it.

The opener is also a safely skip, though the effort was better than usual. Raziel & Cancerbero were in a good mood, showing more on offense. The tecnicos just didn’t show as much, either by chance or by rudo design. Super Astro was missing the spark he’s shown in other matches and Sonny struggled at times.