Announcers introduction. Everyone in blue track jackets and gray pants! Well, not La Mascara. He's wearing a Mascara/Brazo half mask. Here are some La Mascara photos for no particular reason. He's a former Gran Alternativa winner, you see.
Tania talks to Hijo del Signo & Mortiz. It's everyone bring a photo from when they were a child day, I guess. Mortiz did not bring a photo, but then he's not a second generation. Tania has a hard time pretending to be interested in these guys talking.
Riano goes over the first round results in Block A.
Match 1: Diamante & La Sombra vs Hijo del Signo & Mr. Niebla in a CMLL Gran Alternativa quarterfinal
Arena Mexico, 03/25/2011
Winner: Diamante & La Sombra
Match Time: (5:28)
Rating: OK
Notes: They like calling these Block A semifinals. I do not. Zacarias is with the rudo teams. Signo seems confused by him. Hey, Mr. Niebla. These are hurried second time out entrances. Diamante is using Linkin Park. Niebla slaps Diamante right in the face before Sombra can make it to the ring. Pompin is ref.
Niebla takes Diamante outside so Zacarias can smack him with the pan. Signo somehow keeps his own with Sombra inside the ring. Niebla comes in to help, double backdrop for the técnico. Diamante carefully steps in the ring, but gets trapped in a corner and kicked. Niebla sets up Diamante in the ropes, and Signo lands the low blow corner dropkick. Sombra slaps Signo, gets slapped in the back of the head by Mr. Niebla. Signo slams Sombra, and Niebla adds a tope rope splash. Feel like going for a pin? Nope. Sombra is favoring his left elbow again. Boot chokes and slaps. Zacarias is hopping around on the apron. Sombra ducks a double clothesline, ducks a slap, and Signo takes it. Niebla is able to ducks Sombra, but Diamante gets him with a Springboard headscissors. Signo boots Diamante, but Sombra gets him with a rebound headscissors. Both rudos out the same side, Diamante with an Asai tornillo into Signo. Niebla jumps back on the apron, slaps Signo, and does the dance. Sombra kicks him off while he's doing the Niebla pose. Awesome looking tope con giro. Pompin counts everyone out, but they're up and walking before long. Sombra heads back in for his team, but takes his time actually standing up. Signo grabs him as he charges, adjusts a bit, and drops Sombra with a northern lights suplex. One two No. Vangelis would've won there. Swinging fisherman's suplex, and Signo is going up. Top rope splash! One two Diamante has to make the save and does. Diamante rolls Sombra out, and Grabs Signo. Fisherman's suplex, nice bridge one two th-NO. Niebla had some confidence in Signo not to break it up. Diamante small package, one two Niebla breaks that one up. Niebla powerbombs Diamante well and good. Sit down on top cover one two Sombra running dropkick breaks it up. Sombra rests in one corner, Rudos whip Diamante to him, Sombra flips his partner to safety. Niebla charges, Sombra lifts him in a fireman's carry and drops him in front of the ropes. Signo probably shouldn't just stand and watch here. Diamante land the springboard 450 splash on Niebla, and Sombra finishes Signo with the Brillante Bomb. That's the match.
Rudo shake the técnicos hands after the match.
Tania talks to Ultimo Guerrero (in a suit!) and Escorpion (as Escorpion.) Escorpion does a great job of looking interesting in what Ultimo Guerrero has to say, maybe he should get this segment. Oh wow, this was the 20 second segment!
Delta, Dragon Lee and Guerrero Maya work out in the gym, and then in the ring, and then they make faces! And then them other people pose in front of a blue screen. This is for Forjando un Idolo, I see.
Match 2: Escorpion & Último Guerrero vs Mortiz & Terrible in a CMLL Gran Alternativa quarterfinal
Arena Mexico, 03/25/2011
Winner: Escorpion & Ultimo Guerrero
Match Time: 3:57
Rating: good for the time
Notes: Terrible and Mortiz rush the other técnicos from behind to get the fight on. Referee is Rodolfo Ruiz, who seems to not at all care about this except for any counts he has to put on. Terrible is back to his usual gear, instead of the new outfit he had last week.
Brawl is on. Team Terrible in control by just hitting people. Mortiz takes a double boot in the ring, then Terrible goes back to knocking Ultimo Guerrero down on the apron. He's whipped into a Mortiz hiptoss into the ring. Flapjack by Terrible, legdrop by Mortiz. Rudos slap Escorpion hard, in between asking the crowd if they want another one. Two Wheelbarrow lift sets up a Mortiz dropkick. Rudos whip UG, but he leaps over Mortiz and ducks under Terrible's clothesline (huh), leading them into a Escorpion springboard dropkick. Mortiz misses a senton, and eats a quebradora. UG tells Escorpion to run, Escorpion runs, boost dropkick sends them both out. Is Ultimo Guerrero going to participate in a double dive here? No, he drops to his back and monkey flips his running partner into a tope con giro that goes into (and more over) both opponents. UG is fired up, and climbing up. Plancha onto all three. Rodolfo gets busy counting, but all four make it in. Guerrero fireman's carry drops Terrible, while Escorpion sets up Mortiz on the top rope. Escorpion & UG high five passing each other by – Mortiz takes the Guerrero Special and Escorpion lands his quebrada on Terrible. Stereo pins for the win. They've been playing the novato's music here, but they play UG's music after the win.
Team blue screen graphics for the final.
Match 3: Escorpion & Último Guerrero vs Diamante & La Sombra in a CMLL Gran Alternativa Tournament semifinal
Arena Mexico, 03/25/2011
Winner: Escorpion & Ultimo Guerrero
Match Time: 8:13
Rating: okay, probably would've been good without Tirantes.
Notes: Rudos are still in the ring. Diamante decides to sprint to the ring, and sprints right into a double backdrop into the ring. Bad plan! Sombra wisely decides he's just going to take his time. Duck under a Escorpion clothesline, headscissors for UG. Escorpion charges Sombra, Sombra tosses him up in to the air, and Diamante's springboard dropkick kicks him out of the air. Tirantes is the ref, and the whistle blows now.
Double superkick to UG, rudos out on either side of the ring. Técnicos pass each other by en route to corner moonsaults on both rudos! Sombra & Ultimo Guerrero make it back in first. UG riles up the crowd, then turns to take a corner whip. UG sets up on the middle rope, Sombra takes the dare to join him, gets jabbed in the stomach and front superplexed. Another poor plan. UG covers, one two NO. Tirantes both guys take a long time to get up. Sombra with a Toyota roll, one Escorpion stops Tirantes from counting and then breaks it up. Escorpion whips Sombra, Sombra back with a ''ran, Escorpion rolls thru one two NO. Tirantes was counting a little bit faster there, and Sombra and Diamante argue the count. Escorpion takes a devastating inside cradle, one two Diamante breaks it up. Diamante calls Escorpion on, Clothesline misses, inverted 'rana by Diamante, one two NO. Seemed like a slow count there too. Diamante drops Escorpion in front of the corner and held up, but UG crotches him. Guerrero tries for the Guerrero Special, but Sombra stops UG and pulls him of on his shoulders. Sombra drops UG forward and covers, while Diamante planchas Escorpion. One....two.......NO. Yea, slow count. Técnicos yell at Tirantes, but that's not going to help them here. Takes a while for everyone to stop themselves out, but Escorpion and UG end up clothesline the técnicos. UG tells him to hit the ropes, clothesline miss the time, and técnicos dropkick the rudos. This is all getting messy. Técnicos stand around and talk for a while, off the ropes, 'ranas, rudos turn them into powerbombs and put their feet on the ropes, Tirantes counts one and then spots the cheating and stops counting. Rudos argue, then discuss. Escorpion picks up Diamante, slaps him down, and then backs up in the corner when instructed by UG. Both rudos charge both técnicos, técnicos drop both of them in front of the corners. Diamante springboard 450 splash connects, Sombra rope flip tornillo senton connects, one....two....NO. How I haven't missed this at all. Rudos pick up the técnicos, set them up for each other's finishes, and hit their finishes. Tirantes counts much faster, one two NO. Rudos clear Sombra out of the ring. Double press slam on Diamante, UG covers, Escorpion goes to pose, one two three for UG.
Rudos know how close they are. Sombra in, set up for a wheelbarrow faceslam, but Escorpion leaves to celebrate too soon and Sombra cradles UG to tie it up.
Sombra left with Escorpion, which would seem to set up one person for a lot of trouble. Fireman's slam in the middle of the ring, springboard flip into a standing moonsault – but Escorpion gets his knees up! Escorpion powerbombs Sombra, one tow three.
Ultimo Guerrero in immediately to carry Escorpion and celebrate. Of course, the técnicos just want to complain about Tirantes, while Escorpion and UG talk about being winners.
Tania meets up with Dragon Lee and Volador. Volador emphasizes that he's a rudo, but he's going to win. Another 20 second segment!
Stellar Moments
CMLL Informa
Forajido de Idolo clips. And another break.
Tania talks to Mascara Dorada and Metal Blanco. Diamante, Metro and Mascara Dorada all look weird when they have a mouth to their mask, but Metal Blanco looks very strange now not to have a mouth on his mask. AND BREAK. This is ridiculous.
Block 2, first round recap. I wish CMLL reached a consensus on how to spell Tiger “Kid”.
Match 4: Dragon Lee & Volador Jr. vs Máscara Dorada & Metal Blanco in a CMLL Gran Alternativa quarterfinal
Arena Mexico, 04/01/2011
Winner: Mascara Dorada & Metal Blanco
Match Time: 6:10
Rating: rookies looked like rookies
Notes: This time, they're out to Volador's music. Volador is wearing a neon yellow version of venom outfit. Pick a look! I don't know about Mascara Dorada green gear either. Referee
Team GDL try charging the rivals, miss on the dropkicks, and Volador boosts Dragon Lee into a dropkick on both. Stereo tope con giro! Dragon Lee kind of goes by the side of Metal Blanco, not really caught at all. Also, if you're go who looks like Dragon Lee, why are you ever wearing a shirt? You do what you do so you have something under the shirt worth showing off. He does take off the shirt as he comes in, facing Dorada. Dorada takes Dragon's fireman's escape headscissors, and Lee walks up the corner for another headscissors to send Dorada out. Dragon Lee tease a dive and poses. Volador in to deal with Metal Blanco. Metal Blanco flipping run meets a dropkick to the back. Dragon lee keeps Dorada out as Volador powerbombs Blanco. Running shooting star press by Lee, one two NO. Lee holds Blanco off the apron for Volador's thru the ropes dropkick. Dorada in and kicked in the corner. Rudos fans chanting. Whip, Dorada hiptossed to the ramp on the next pass. Team GDL in a lot of trouble. Dorada tries to crawl some place, but just collapses. Metal Blanco brought in, whipped, rebound double hiptoss, but Blanco lands on his feet. Double back elbow misses, Dorada lies in with a leaping over the top rope headscissors on Volador. Right guy to take it. Dragon Lee karate kicks Dorada down, and clotheslines Blanco. Fireman's carry slam, Lee Dragon overs after that, one tow NO. Dorada chops Dragon Lee in the corner. Corner whip, no one home, Dorada finds a crazy way to throw himself to the floor. Kind of spin and fell on all fours, more impact on his knees. Dragon Lee set sup, runs up the corner, and top con giro s of the corner, almost losing on the way up and hitting the ground very hard. Volador in the center of the ring, waiting for something. Blanco springboard in, but Volador easily reverse the 'rana into a powerbomb one two NO. Blanco misses a clothesline, Volador front cracker, backcracker, Volador leans on top one two NO Dorada broke it up, I guess. Blanco rolls out and Dorada waits for Volador to get up. Dueling flipping runs, Both are hesitant next, Dorada charges, Volador flips him to the apron, Dorada fights him up and climbs to the top rope, Volador crotches him. Metal Blanco in the area, but Volador first slowly climbs up to join Dorada. Metal Blanco slips under – superplex /powerbomb has looked better. Blanco stays on top of Volador and covers, one, referee stops counting to watching Dragon Lee springboard elbow drop Dorada, then starts counting over again, one two NO. Yea, if Dragon Lee is late doing his spot, you should probably keep counting anyway. Dragon Lee charges Dorada, clothesline is caught, and Dorada dumps him in front of the corner. Dorada steps over Dragon Lee on this way over, then sets up on the apron. Camera sticks with him as the other two are casually getting it place – Blanco springboard headscissors on Volador, referee counts as Dorada lands a great tornillo senton I can't recall him doing before. Dorada gets his pin too, and that's it. Play Dorada's music.
Lots of replays.
Tania catches Negro Casas and Puma King looking at an old photo. Uncle/nephew teaming up.
Match 5: Negro Casas & Puma King vs Averno & Palacio Negro in a CMLL Gran Alternativa quarterfinal
Arena Mexico, 04/01/2011
Winner: Averno & Palacio Negro.
Match Time: 2:47
Rating: not much
Notes: Zacarias is with the Casas, who enter to Puma's music. I'm so glad I'm keeping tack of this, it's so relevant. Team Averno enter to his music. Referee is Maya. Averno waits for his name to be announce before leading the attack.
Both Casas are quickly sent out, team Averno teas dives, Casas flee, Averno poses. Puma rushes and kicks Palacio, but Averno gets him with his own kick. Double teaming on Puma goes poorly. Puma gets flipped to the apron, but springboards in with a headscissors. Averno out, Puma flattens him with a tope con giro. Palacio Negro in and chopping with Negro Casas. Shoulderblock, but Palacio Negro comes back with a dropkick. Palacio launches himself thru the ropes with a tope con giro – he like leaped up thru the ropes, oddly. Averno and Puma in, Puma off the ropes, Puma 'rana, one two no. Puma wants a faster count. Averno off the ropes, odd clothesline just backs up Puma a couple steps. Corner whip, Puma flips himself to the apron, fights Averno off, springboard frontcracker. Crowd is very quiet. One two Palacio dropkicks to break it out. Negro kicks the young man directly in the face. Palacio set up on the ropes, kick to the thigh, takedown, half crab, and Averno has to make the save for his partner. Puma tries kick Averno, not Averno catches it, scoops him up, and then drops him in the corner. Averno stands over Puma, Palacio comes running towards him, Averno tosses his partner to the second rope and then gets out of the way. Palacio jumps on the second rope again, then does a pump tornillo, onto Puma, nearly landing on his head. Meanwhile, Negro dropkick Averno in the knee, casita, Averno rolls thru, Averno gets a casita of his own, one two three. That was not as long as the last tone.
Negro yells at Perico for not climbing in far enough to break it up. They hug it out. Negro demands the people applaud for Puma King. Puma points at Palacio, indicating their will be another day. Averno & Palacio are clearly just going to wait for their opponents to show up. Replays.
Tania talks to Averno & Palacio Negro. Averno was right in the middle of instruction Palacio Negro on things. Averno talks about Palacio Negro being a great talent from Guadalajara, and they'll be facing Ultimo Guerrero & Escorpion. Palacio says he's a little nervous, but he's got a great partner.
Final match up team graphics.
Match 6: Máscara Dorada & Metal Blanco vs Averno & Palacio Negro in a CMLL Gran Alternativa Tournament semifinal
Arena Mexico, 04/01/2011
Winner: Dorada & Blanco.
Match Time: 7:59
Rating: too annoying to be good
Notes: Dorada & Blanco are fired up as they walk to the ring. Fist pound. Palacio Negro & Metal Blanco are all weirded out to see each other, and Metal Blanco explains to Mascara Dorada that he knows that guy. Team Dorada rush the ring, but Averno boots Dorada in the face and kicks Blanco before he can even get to Palacio. No hug here. Tirantes is ref again, god bless.
Averno sets Dorada on the top rope and goes right to untie his mask. Lost cause here. Tirantes finds something else to watch. Palacio Negro seems to be a rudo at the moment, as he tosses Metal Blanco into the post (DQ!) and throws himself around outside. Averno and Palacio Negro reconvene on the ramp, then both go into deal with Dorada. Dorada lands of the double rebound hiptoss, dropkick Palacio and Metal Blanco sends Averno out with a springboard headscissors. Run up the ropes moonsault to the floor. Dorada misses a dropkick on Palacio, Palacio leaps off him to the top rope to a tope con giro to the floor. Front row people can't believe they have all these people at their feet and Dorada hasn't dived yet. Here he goes – Brillo Dorada onto the pile. Team Dorada seems to be in better shape, team Averno seems to be checking their knees. Averno passes on some information to Palacio. Dorada and Averno back in. Dorada with a rope flip into a casadora cradle, one.....two.....NO. Pretty obvious clip here. Metal Blanco is now down, and Palacio does his headstand rope flip moonsault. One two NO. Palacio must be a rudo, because Tirantes is fast counting for him. Both struggle to their feet, Blanco looking worse, but striking first. Kick, small package, one...t-Averno breaks it up with a kick. Averno lifts Metal Blanco up, and powerbombs him in the corner, barely. Averno helps Palacio Negro up for the headstands again, rope flip moonsault again, though I'm not sure if Metal Blanco was meant to move or get his knees up. Tirantes counts a fast one two and Blanco kicks out. Meanwhile, Averno has pump handle powerbombed Dorada, and Tirantes races over to count – one two NO. Dorada waves on the crowd. Everyone slow to their feet. Dorada and Blanco with 'ranas, rudos with powerbomb with feet on the ropes, one two Tirantes spots it and stops counting. Hey, SAME EXACT SPOT AT THE LAST SEMIFINAL. Rudos argue, both get inside cradles, one two no. Rudos grab técnicos, técnicos shove them off into each other, Dorada boosted into a dropkicks, rudos move out of the way and kick both técnicos. Stereo Devil's Wings! One two NO. Averno's finisher has very limited effect on Mr. Dorada. Veterans are dumped. Palacio and Metal Blanco in, firsts up, wristlock, Metal Blanco kicks Palacio Negro, walk up the ropes and off with a springboard headscissors. Palacio out, Metal Blanco walks up the ropes, tornillo to the floor! Dorada and Averno in, Dorada flipped to the ramp apron, Dorada knocks down Averno back up, charge and runs in with a over the top headscissors. Averno flips Dorada to the camera side apron, Dorada fights him off, springboard flip 'rana one.....two......th-NO. Hooray, everyone cares about Tirantes and not the match. Dorada springboards off the middle rope, Averno sidesteps and pulls of his mask, Dorada's face is blurred here. Averno stomps a bit. Tirantes gestures to Averno, and rises Dorada's arm. Averno can't believe he called the DQ, even as the mask is still in his hand.
That wasn't a climatic end. Metal Blanco covers Dorada's face with a t-shirt, because Averno isn't giving back the match. Palacio Negro just kind of looks around blankly, you'd think he would be angry.
Averno talks about how that match was important, and neither are the fans. Palacio sort of shrugs and walks off with him. Dorada, in a new mask, demands a mask vs mask match. You can see a fan gesturing to Palacio Negro and asking him why he's not mad at Averno. Palacio just sort of shakes his head and shrugs. Averno makes Palacio hold the mask so he can come back in and tease fighting. Oh, wait, he's going to totally fight. Averno eats a headscissors, but then pulls of Dorada's mask again. Metal Blanco is a little to late to help. Palacio Negro STILL sticks with Averno. Averno walks off with both men. Dorada goes back to covering his head with a security vest.
Riano asks their thoughts about their opponents. Dorada says they have tough opponents, but they'll be Guadalajara can win. Metal Blanco is excited to be Arena Mexico. Dorada still wants the mask match.
04/15 hype: matches!
Announcers wrap it up. Lots of time killing to end it.