A few thoughts on the

A few thoughts on the 5/18/03 show

Violencia [c] & Pierroth & Blue Panther vs. Gran Markus [c] & Apolo Dantes & Satanico

Yes, CMLL’s version of the Never Ending Story returns to your screens after a lengthy absence. What belt does Violenica hold again? I forget. On the plus side, I like 50% of the guys in this match. Primera caida is over in seconds as Violencia hits the Scary Senton on Markus. Galavision actually has the balls to cut to a commercial after that. Segunda caida gets weird. Markus makes a comeback on Violencia, then Panther and Pierroth come in and beat him up, then Apolo and Satanico come in and beat them up to win the fall. Tercera caida actually has a ray of sunshine as Apolo and Panther have a nice sequence. Apolo gets dogpiled and pinned after a Violencia clothesline. Shockingly, Satanico doesn’t get eliminated. Instead, Violencia accidentally kicks Pierroth in the cajones (no, not contrived at all, no siree) and gets rolled up by Markus for the pin. Same poop we’ve seen for about 67 years now.

Zumbido and Terrible shoot the shit after apparently hanging out in an abandoned warehouse.

Emilio Charles Jr. [c] & Zumbido & Terrible vs. Negro Casas [c] & Felino & Ricky Marvin

Terrible looks a lot like Sean O’Haire. Rudos run wild through the first caida. Only thing of note was Terrible blowing some move beyond recognition on Casas. Rudos win and we go to a commercial. We re-join the match in progress for about ten seconds as the tecnicos win the second fall. Felino even used the Trailer Hitch on Emilio. Ricky also hits a Dragon Moonsault on Zumbido, but we only see that in the replays. Tercera caida has a big helping of Terrible, and boy, did he live up to his name. Felino pins him after a moonsault, then gets pinned himself after a cool Zumbido springboard dropkick. Weird booking because it usually comes down to the captains in the final caida, but since Emilio and Negro don’t have an issue, we get left with Zumbido and Ricky, and ‘Bido comes out on top again with the Fisherman Buster. Odd match, probably not one for the permanent tape.

Shocker vs. Ultimo Guerrero

These two had the best lucha match in 2002, and while this one wasn’t nearly as good, there was still plenty to enjoy. The problem was that the first two caidas were really short (something like 3 minutes combined). Things did pick up immensely in the final fall. I thoroughly enjoyed Shocker escaping the wacky submission that did him in the second fall, Ultimo’s beyond insane super gourdbuster, some very well done nearfalls, and the clean as a sheet ending. Plus a rematch next week, yippee!