CMLL Tuesday: Redemption! Sweet Glorious Redemption!
As much as I loathe this man and his butchering of punk rock, Fall Out Boy bassist and minion of Satan himself Pete Wentz wasn’t lying when he said “one night can change it all!” in the music video for the catchy and irritating song “Dance Dance”. Last night CMLL put on a show in Puebla that had me questioning my wrestling fandom, the meaning of life and whether or not Paco Alonso needed a brain transplant. Tonight the company went and, in the words of Harry Dunne, totally redeemed themselves with what might’ve been the best Tuesday Night show I’ve ever seen them put on. With the exception of a terrible first match everything about this show worked; we had three good to great undercard matches, an exceptional semi-main event thanks to some late additions and couple great performances from two newcomers, and a main event title match between two performers who lived up to the expectations myself and everyone else had for them. This is why we love lucha libre and wrestling as a whole folks; when it’s great like tonight, there’s nothing better than that. Let’s go into more detail now. Moses; take my hand and we’ll meme it I swear!
Acero & Eléctrico defeated Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Universo 2000 two falls to one
After this match was over I immediately became concerned that this was the start of yet another soul sucking night. As it turns out, this opener was nearly CMLL hitting rock bottom. Even with all the disappointment from last night, this was by the far the worst bout of the two nights; it was sloppy, it was boring and aside from Eléctrico almost no effort. For the love of all things there was one point in this match where Pequeno Nitro walked from spot to spot like he could’ve cared less. Why the hell are we dealing with that shit while Stukita is left to rot in Paco Alonso’s remote prison off the coast of Blue Demon Jr.’s villa? Unless you’re a big fan of Eléctrico and want to admire how much he tried here despite the lack of effort from everyone else, do yourself a favor and skip this one. It was simply a catastrophe of a match. Fortunately, it was also the only match of the night that approached any levels of suck.
Canelo Casas, Metálico, Nitro defeated Magnus, Oro Jr., Leono two falls to one
I had a terrible feeling about this match going in, something that didn’t change when Starman was yet again replaced by Leono, a guy who looked like Shocker’s long lost child. And frankly, the sight of anything Shocker related right now makes me see more red than Jack Reed at a Communist Party rally. Against all odds though this match ended up being pretty decent; not earth shattering, but nowhere close to being as bad as you’d think with the rudo team that was involved. You can thank four people for that, starting with all three technicos. Magnus and Oro Jr. definitely were ready to go (duh, it’s Magnus!) and provided as much excitement as they could even though CMLL clearly had the no dive sign on in the cockpit. Leono impressed as well, being energetic and overall looking nothing like his long lost father. The MVP of this match however was definitely Metalico; from the moment he came out with the by far the funniest entrance of the night (let’s just say it involved Aly, old western songs and square dancing) it was clear the veteran was going to go all out to entertain. He did just that, putting his charisma to great use and even showing some nice flashes in the ring despite that being the weak point of his game. With Metalico riding on all cylinders and the technicos complimenting him well, all Canelo Casas and Nitro needed to do was not get in the way. They thankfully didn’t and this match, while not the be all end all, served as an entertaining start to what became a great rest of the evening. Thank you square dancing?
Disturbio, Skándalo, Virus defeated Hombre Bala Jr., Soberano Jr., Tritón two falls to one
Yet another match that looked like it could go either way going into the show, yet another match that was held down by the lack of dives and yet another match where it didn’t matter because everything else worked anyway. As it turns out folks Disturbio is actually a pretty okay talent (and a snazzy Dragon Ball Z cosplayer if I do say so myself), and him being able to take the load off Virus significantly elevated this bout. With Disturbio holding his own and Skandalo generally being kept out of the way, all that was left was for Virus to do Virus things with the talented crop of technicos and he did just that; his sequences with Soberano in particular were electric. The pace, the fluidity, the timing; everything about those two working together was simply marvelous, and it extended even when they worked against others with Soberano being the only one given a chance to really fly. Really the only negative here is that Triton (still sporting his emo look) and Bala weren’t given much to do aside from jawing with Tiger (who served as guest announcer this evening) and hitting sweet suicide diving splashes from the stage. We needed a little more of them to make this match great. As such, it was still very enjoyable, and I strongly recommend CMLL does a mini Virus-Soberano feud soon. The thought of those two going at it for three falls really gets my freak juice flowing. Shit…let’s pretend I didn’t say that.
Ángel de Oro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán defeated Dragón Rojo Jr., Luciferno, Pólvora two falls to one
Finally, thankfully, CMLL allowed the gloves to come off for this fourth bout and boy oh boy was this match great because of it. Once again the worries of an average to mediocre worker on the rudo side didn’t affect match quality as Pólvora was limited to brief spurts and performed well during all of them. Everybody else was excellent. I don’t know if Luciferno was injured and is now healthy, if he’s suddenly motivated or if some ultra talented dude has taken over the mantle in place of the old one, but that guy was good again tonight, moving as well as he ever has. Meanwhile Angel de Oro and Titan looked ultra explosive and showcased two exception clothesline dives that I have never seen before. And finally, the glue that held this together was the work between Guerrero Maya Jr. and Dragon Rojo Jr. The rivals were the story of the whole match and, aside from the main event, really the only story told throughout the night. Rojo brilliantly essayed the cowardly rudo who attacked while Maya was down and retreated when he got up, while Maya’s plucky underdog routine of fighting back really seemed to win over the crowd as we went along. Best of all their interactions and Maya’s journey to finally getting his hands on Rojo created the perfect structure for this match; each fall built and built until finally everything went nuclear in fall three and the pace went up to over 9,000 levels. Really it just clicked, and will ultimately go down as the first of three great matches this evening. We’re clearly not done with this Maya-Rojo feud either, as the rudo complained bitterly about the roll up Maya scored on him to win the match. I don’t know about you, but I would gladly take these two over Shocker-UG or a La Mascara mask match at the Anniversary Show in heartbeat. Seriously; Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. mask vs. mask in the main event of the Anniversary Show has a nice ring to it right? Are you saying no with the other options we’ve got?!
Dragon Lee, Johnny Idol, Valiente defeated Cavernario, Negro Casas, Sam Adonis two falls to one
Sometimes it’s just your night and nothing proves that more than when Dragon Lee and Okumura suddenly came out for this match as replacements for Diamante Azul and Negro Casas (who I assume missed the show thanks to the after party thrown in honor of his wife’s victory last night). I like Azul more than most and Okumura for Casas is basically a wash at best, but who cares; the sight of Dragon Lee coming out here made my interest go up tenfold. And frankly it wasn’t even the best part of the entrances; that would be Johnny Idol coming out to Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer”, the greatest wedding anthem of all time and a choice that instantly moved the young Idol past Nathan Fillion and Fernando Torres for the title of Greatest Man That Ever Lived. True story.
Ultimately the inclusion of Lee and the fascination I had with seeing both Idol and Sam Adonis performed left me glued to the screen for this one. Well that and the fact that this was easily the second best match of the night and one you could argue was maybe the best. Let’s start with Idol and Adonis. CMLL showed a lot of confidence in putting these two up against everyone here and I thought they delivered well. They both have things to work on (Idol could show some more personality and Adonis is still green overall) but they also showed massive potential. Idol has great movement, good timing and already shows the capability of being a pretty good high flyer, while Adonis is absolutely loaded with charisma and contains quite a bit of athleticism (as seen by an outstanding top rope splash that secured the rudos fall number two). Ultimately I came away really impressed with both guys, and watching them grow should be a treat. It be an even bigger treat if they could continue to work with these caliber of workers, especially when Lee and Valiente are performing at such a high level (are we sure Dragon Lee was really hurt) and Okumura is bringing his usual solid blend of technical wrestling. What more can you say; this match featured two interesting prospects who should go on to become great luchadors, some great action between the established luchadors; it had everything really including an absolutely fun and fantastic finish. After last night’s disappointing show, this is the kind of bout that reminds me of why I stick around through all the hard times. Well that and the main event. Speaking of that!
CMLL World Heavyweight Championship Match
Máximo Sexy (c) defeated Rey Escorpión two falls to one
This match had everything you could possibly want for a big match going in. The crowd was hot thanks to the matches leading up; the atmosphere gave you the feeling of a big fight; all that was left was for Maximo and Escorpion to deliver the goods. They did just that. The first fall slowly got everyone into the action before Maximo turned on the jets, which ended up costing him when Escorpion used his momentum to hit a sitout powerbomb to put the challenger one fall away from glory. The second fall was short, fast, furious and super fun, with Maximo quickly tying it up with a roll up. And naturally the third fall rolled up all that chaos to create the perfect storm of drama; it was back and forth action throughout with each guy trading shots like they were prizefighters and creating a feeling that, unlike many of Maximo’s other title defenses, the finish really could go either way. In the end though it wasn’t time for the reign to end, which became apparent the longer Maximo went without going for his famous “Kiss”, the move that ultimately put Escorpion away deep into the third fall. If I have any complaints, it’s that Escorpion lost due to that first kiss; regardless of the result I would’ve had him kick out there and let the two go on for a few more minutes, with Maximo’s failure to put Escorpion away with his ultimate move creating another layer to an already exciting contest. Alas it was not to be, and even without that added element this was still as great a title match as I hoped, with both men living up the big fight feel and delivering the goods. It’s just a shame one had to lose; I stated Escorpion had been the most underrated luchador in Mexico during my preview and he certainly lived up to that here. As nice as it would be for him to be champ though, you can’t deny Maximo is just as worthy and that it’ll be a sad day when the man finally loses the belt. What more needs to be stated; a great main event to a great show. Well done everyone!
That’s all for me folks! I’m off to fall asleep with a smile on my face. Till next time, find some time and check out this show! It's totally worth it and will be the best decision you make since that time you decided to watch Friends.
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