CMLL on Televisa: 1995-03-18/03-25

Recapped: 2020-07-23

1995-03-18 matches:

Atlantis, Negro Casas, Vampiro beat Emilio Charles Jr., Jason The Terrible, Pierroth Jr.
(03/14 @ Arena Coliseo, 9:04, 1/2 DQ, ok, Roy Lucier CMLL)

What Happened: In the intro, Miguel Linares says Jason the Terrible is Australian! The match is joined with the two teams fighting prior to getting to the ring.

Review: Everyone looks fine but this one doesn’t really pick up before it ends. It’s an abrupt ending, Emilio fouling Vampiro to send this to a straight falls finish in a match where they hadn’t feuded much. 1995 Vampiro likes to take flip bumps out off of clotheslines. He often seems like he’s wrestling his own match, unaware of what is going on around him. He keeps wrestling Jason the Terrible in the first fall long after his partners have ended the fall.

Último Dragón © beat Corazón De León for the NWA World Middleweight Championship
(03/17 @ Arena México, 10:11, 2/3, ok, Roy Lucier CMLL)

I was sure this was going to be a match I was really going to enjoy. I couldn’t find a way to give a positive grade even coming in wanting to like it. This is very much a match they could’ve done in the Japan or US with two fall breaks wedged in. It’s not bad for that reason but feels out of place on a CMLL card. It feels weird that Jericho’s going to chinlocks to slow down the match to built to an Ultimo Dragon comeback, and the relatively short time for this match doesn’t really allow those pauses. It’s possible they just edited it down, but what we’re left with doesn’t feel great. Jericho is unpolished, with some moments that really don’t go well. (The dropkick counter/moonsault spot they both try for at the end doesn’t come close to working.) This is one which may have worked better in the time – they’re doing all sorts of suplexes and top rope moves which were more novel in 1995. It doesn’t hold up well now.

Sangre Chicana beat La Fiera for the hair
(03/17 @ Arena México, 7:23, good, Roy Lucier CMLL)

This is maybe a bit of a generous grade. They got to the fighting I was hoping for in the third after two relatively forgettable falls. There’s one tope worth seeing too, though the match ends abruptly (and maybe after an edit.) This is not a patch on the 80s Sangre Chicana hair matches but acceptable for this sort of thing.

1995-03-25 matches

Almost every match on this show (full link) is clipped. I just have the tournament matches listed as airing, but there are clips of matches from other shows which last longer. It’s a useless show if you’re just looking for great matches. The conditions don’t allow for any of the matches to come off well, and the focus is on building to matches on future shows. Might as well talk about that instead of the matches.

Non-tournament matches

• The 03/21 @ Arena Coliseo Salavador Lutteroth cibernetico from 03/21. Mostly just eliminations shown. Dr. Wagner wins over buddy Pierroth.
• The trios main event from the 03/21 Arena Coliseo show. Satanico fouls Hector Garza to continue that issue.
• The 02/24 @ Arena Mexico Reyna Jubuki vs Lady Apache CMLL Women’s Championship, ending when Lady Apache was disqualified for refusing to let go of a hair pull. It’s a bad ending. A Lady Apache sit down interview precedes this building to a rematch. In reality, that was Jubuki’s final match in Mexico and she’s left as champion. It’ll take a year and a half for CMLL to come up with a reason to vacate the title (Jubuki appearing in WCW) and get it to Lady Apache. Jubuki leaving with the title appears to end the 80s/90s rebirth era of the women’s division, with CMLL paying little attention to the championship until Dark Angel showed up.

Those matches take place in between rounds of a Salvador Lutteroth trios tournament on 03/24 in Arena Coliseo. This is prior to the era of Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, with CMLL looking for a way to honor their founder in March and not yet having struck on building a show around it. There is a seeding battle royal.

• Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata, El Brazo beat Damián el Guerrero, Guerrero del Futuro, Guerrero Maya in 0:55 shown
• Apolo Dantés, Atlantis, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. beat Cadáver De Ultratumba, Espectro Jr., Kahoz in 0:54 shown
  • The rudos fouled Rayo to cost themselves an easy win
• Bestia Salvaje, Emilio Charles Jr., Sangre Chicana beat Wagner Jr., El Hijo Del Gladiador, Gran Markus Jr. in 1:26 shown
• Dos Caras, El Dandy, Héctor Garza beat MS-1, Pirata Morgan, Satánico in 0:28 shown
  • Satanico & Hector Garza feuding was the focus
• Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata, El Brazo beat Apolo Dantés, Atlantis, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in 1:43 shown
• Bestia Salvaje, Emilio Charles Jr., Sangre Chicana beat Dos Caras, El Dandy, Héctor Garza in 1:28 shown

The final was shown complete, or close to it. It still wasn’t long.

Bestia Salvaje, Emilio Charles Jr., Sangre Chicana beat Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata, El Brazo in a tournament final
(03/24 @ Arena México, straight falls, 5:56, ok, Roy Lucier CMLL)

The whole tournament was building up to miscommunication between El Brazo and his two brothers, leading to a violent fight after the match. El Brazo had been a rudo since late September 1994; it was more surprising he was getting along with his brothers for one night than that they broke up. This leads to a hair match between them the next week, though a trios tournament comes off as a strange way to set that up. Garza/Satanico, which is two weeks away, is a lot more conventionally built. Bestia Salvaje remains a quiet joy, doing a couple of interesting things in every significant match.