CMLL Puebla: Mike's Show
It’s been a whirlwind last few days for me sports fans. First there was Triplemania on Saturday night, a rollercoaster of an event that lasted six hours, featured two of the worst matches I’ve seen all year, one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen and Aerostar leaping off the roof. I’m still trying to take it all in after a few days. Then last night, I learned that my great aunt (who I’m very close with) lost her son unexpectedly. Life truly is a seesaw of emotion. So as I await whatever duty my great aunt, mother (who lost her cousin mind you), or any other family member needs me to do, I decided the best course was to review tonight’s CMLL Puebla show. Maybe it’s silly, especially since the Monday show is generally…not very good, but lucha libre is in many was my #1 thing in life and definitely my greatest escape. So I couldn’t be more grateful to watch this show tonight, take some notes, come up with some jokes for you guys and enjoy what ended up being a very fun two hours of lucha. And with that, I think it’s only appropriate we dive in. Michael, I may not have known you as well as I would’ve liked to, but wherever you are, this is for you.
Astro & Meyer defeated Ares & Mini Joker two falls to one
When I say this was a match of no significance…actually I’m probably being too kind. There was even less significance then you’d expect! That isn’t to say the work was bad; other than Asturiano looking sloppy in fall two it was fine, and Meyer hit a nice top rope hurricanrana in the third fall to close the match out. But besides that, this was nothing you haven’t seen before and nothing you won’t see again come next week. Further proof that no Astro is a significant downgrade. Did he get lost in traffic or something? WHY DID YOU DEPRIVE US OF ASTRO CMLL?!
King Jaguar & El Malayo defeated Rey Samuray & Millenium two falls to one
If Triplemania was a one match show, this match was a one man show named Rey Samuray’s world. Considering Samuray is really, really good that shouldn’t come as a surprise; what does was just how good he was this evening. In short order Samuray hit a step up springboard hurricanrana from the ramp to the ring, followed by a springboard arm drag from the ring to the floor. All within seconds of each other! He also threw in a tornillo to ramp up fall one and a springboard arm drag from the ramp later in the proceedings because why the fuck not?! Maybe CMLL was having tryouts to move up to the Tuesday and Friday show tonight? It’s either that or Samuray was taking more of that super serum than usual. He was on the level of Brand New’s “Can’t Get It Out” tonight. By the way, have you heard Science Fiction yet? Let’s just say waiting eight years for Jesse Lacey’s next effort was worth every painful minute. Especially for him.
Unfortunately he was so good that the rest of this match kind of couldn’t live up. All three guys tried, and at times Millenium looked like he could do just as much as his partner was. The problem is that he didn’t, and Jaguar and Malayo remained the usual decent but unspectacular rudos they always are. That’s fine; I’m never going to say no to a Rey Samuray highlight reel and I think he elevated this match enough to make it good. But it couldn’t get any higher than that, which is a shame because Samuray clearly showed here (as he does almost every time out) he deserved better. He also deserved a win, but because this is CMLL he of course ended up jobbing to King Jaguar. Let’s move on from that before I start saying things about CMLL like I did Dorian and Marisela earlier today.
Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado defeated Drone & Guerrero Maya Jr. two falls to one
This looked really good on paper and…well it was solid at least. Solid and unspectacular that is. The problem was no one really did anything exciting save for a double dive by Maya and Drone. It was mostly just really smooth, really decent work that didn’t inspire any interest unless you’re into crisp wrestling with nothing else to it. It didn’t help that Drone was having an off night too, looking a little off with some of the little things he usually does well with. I don’t want to be too hard here because Maya and Sagrado continued to be as good as they usually are (I find myself irrationally invested in Sagrado’s quest to end Drone), but there’s only so much “decent” wrestling I can watch without anything happening before I start grumbling about something happening. That was this match, and I’d honestly prefer the previous match with Rey Samuray doing cool stuff over this one which featured decent wrestling but nothing eye catching.
Ángel de Oro, Dragón Lee, Mistico defeated Mephisto, Cavernario, Negro Casas two falls to one
I don’t know if it’s because Niebla Roja took the night off or not, but this match turned out to be better than I expected. In fact, with a little more time this could’ve been one of the better matches on Monday in quite some time. They started slow and there were times where it was hard to tell who was feuding with who (Cavernario and Casas feuded with both Mistico and Dragón Lee at different variables), but overall the match got better as it went along, with Lee looking great with all three rudos, Oro stepping up, Mistico keeping things under the control and the rudos doing their usual reliable good work. Literally no complaints on this one folks; this was a really good match that with a little more time could’ve been even better. And the technicos won to boot, which is always nice. It’ll e interesting to see if they have anything going on coming out of this next week, as both Mistico and Lee were feuding with Cavernario and Casas. Two singles matches? A tag match? LOL at the thought of a main event tag match in CMLL. Stop it Cult.
Volador Jr., Último Guerrero, Euforia, Valiente, Rush, Diamante Azul defeated Matt Taven, Sam Adonis, Marco Corleone, Michael Elgin, Johnny Idol, Juice Robinson
What can I say about this match that hasn’t already been said about Edward Norton’s performance in Kingdom of Heaven? I know, I know; wasn’t this supposed to merely be a preview of the Gran Prix? Yes and let me tell you; if this is half of what we’re getting Sunday then we are in for something that will make Triplemania (minus Dr. Wagner vs. Psycho Clown) look like Sunshine after the skinless dude appeared. It was pretty much the best preview since the second Man of Steel trailer. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not.
The best thing about this bout was that the one thing holding it back from (hopefully) being as great as it can be Friday was that they didn’t have a huge spots. In fact I believe the only dives in this match were a suicide dive from Valiente and two planchas from Matt Taven and Juice. Otherwise it was a lot of brawling, a lot of heat and a lot of really well done wrestling before it came down to Big Mike and Volador having a semi-epic encounter. And everyone got a moment too, except for Johnny Idol (poor bastard was eliminated early). Juice looked good, if in need of a little polish. It was great to see Sam Adonis now that he’s back from posing with Kenta Kobashi in Japan. Marco mixed really well with Big Euf, which makes me hopeful for their eventually Heavyweight Title match down the road. Valiente was solid, if gone quickly. Taven was Taven. UG was UG. Rush seemed rejuvenated; perhaps Konnan packed some plasma to go with that Crash deal he gave him. Diamante Azul looked really good and may have found his calling as the big move guy in matches like this. And of course, Volador and Big Mike stole the show, with Volador essaying the same heroic technico role he did last Gran Prix while Big Mike…holy crap Big Mike! At one point he pulled out a springboard arm drag/hurricanrana combo and I nearly M. Bison screaming yes. Can we keep him in Mexico forever? Or at least have him and Volador go at it in the near distant future? Those two were great together, Big Mike was great all around and this match was a whole lot of fun. I don’t know about you, but I think the Gran Prix may be worth the $8 this Friday. Just saying!
That’s game sports fans. I’m off to contemplate how I’m finally going to talk about Wagner-Psycho Clown tomorrow. Till we meet again, take care and hug your loved ones.
