CMLL Puebla: Ingobernable or Not Ingobernable (That is the Question)
Ladies, gentlemen, luchadors formerly employed by AAA…I don’t know where I’m going with this. I just know that I want to get to How I Met Your Mother and get this CMLL Puebla review in the bag. So let’s get to it. Moses, cover for me quick so people don’t notice that the intro is shorter than Kevin Hart standing next to Kevin Nash. I’m pretty sure there’s a joke about cheating on your wife somewhere in there.
Guerrero Especial & Perverso defeated Arkalis & París two falls to one
There’s an alternate universe out there where I really enjoy this match. I’m serious. I expected less than Alone in the Dark starring Christian Slater quality going into this, and instead go treated to a good effort from all four guys and a lot of really cool moves. What cool moves you ask? Try Arkalis hitting an awesome senton bomb while Perverso was hung up in the ropes, Arkalis hitting Perverso with a pop up cutter and Guerrero Especial, a man who occasionally moves like present day Jado, hitting an absolutely perfect Canadian Destroyer on Arkalis. That’s good shit. Good enough to make this a good match? Not quite. Despite the effort and the better than expected move sets, there was still no reason to care about this match and the flow was pretty lame. But hey, most of these Puebla openers have no flow and are filled with botches, sloppiness and Centella Roja acting like its 1997. So I’ll take this match being perfectly adequate, even if it had no flow, no heat and the rudos winning another match even though it’s pretty clear Arkalis and París should’ve taken it home. Especially Arkalis; I don’t know where tonight came from but I need more of him doing this shit post haste.
Lightning Match
Pierrothito defeated Shockercito
Up until the ending this match was pretty good. Well as good as it could be considering these guys only got about six minutes or so. It’s no secret if you’ve seen him in trios action, but Shockercito is a really athletic, really talented luchador who does at least one unique thing everything time he’s working. That was no different here, as he was doing cool arm drags and breaking out a suicide dive on a game Pierrothito, who kept up with him and even dished out a few cool submissions. This had all the makings of being a very good match that ultimately ended up being a decent preview for next week’s rematch. Oh yes; there will be a rematch next week.
All things considered, it’s a very good thing they do have a rematch next week considered how this match ended. The post match challenge by Pierrothito makes it pretty clear that the rudo was always taking this match home; the problem is I’m not sure he was supposed to win it as quickly as he did. The sequence saw Pierrothito counter a Jackknife roll up by Shockercito into a roll up of his own, followed by Tirantes counting thee just as Shockercito was kicking out. Was that supposed to be the finish? Did Shockercito kick out too late? Did Tirantes botch? I’m not really sure (and the replay was inconclusive overall), but it ultimately doesn’t matter because Pierrothito was supposed to win either way and, if anything, this adds more fuel to the title match next week as Shockercito can now argue he was screwed tonight. In other words, it’s the rare “maybe” botch that actually works out for CMLL. That never happens! Maybe karma is rewarding Paco for booking Sam Adonis vs. Blue Panther or something.
La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely defeated La Seductora, Tiffany, Zeuxis two falls to one
After last Friday’s really, really good (and really, really long) cibernetico match, the luchadoras division was back to the status quo in this match. And by that I mean that Zeuxis was awesome, Sugehit was really good, Sanely was half impressing, half making me wonder why she ever bothered trying to become a luchadora and Vaquerita, Tiffany and Seductora were doing nothing of note. Can we have the effort from Friday night back please? Or at least maybe Lady Maravilla in Tiffany’s place? Probably not. At least we got to see Zeuxis knee the crap out of Sanely again before her team took the L for what appears to be the 9,001st straight time. That’s what happens when you run so hard into a corner you slip, fall and bang your head against the turnbuckle. And yes, that’s a thing that did happen to Sanely tonight. I don’t know what we’re going to do with her gang; I really don’t.
Ángel de Oro, Stigma, Stuka Jr. defeated Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto two falls to one
Remember last week when these two teams had a decent match that ended in a draw? Well for once it actually did lead to something next week and that something was even better than what we got last week! Granted it wasn’t perfect; this did appear to be the final match between these two teams (despite having an ending that suggested more could happen), everyone in this match was just a little too in love with the suicide dive (I counted at least six of them. Seriously guys, can we get some variety?) and there were a lot of clunky/sloppy spots in the third fall that you’d expect from guys just below the great tier. Even still I found this match to be very enjoyable. The technicos got a lot of shine, even when they lost a fall and the rudos were steady as ever, with Luciferno once again standing out. I don’t know what’s gotten into that guy but I love it; his return to form has suddenly made the Infiernos fun to watch and has taken a load of Mephisto, who is usually forced to carry bouts like this. Again, not perfect and I’m really bummed we won’t get to see these guys go at it again when it looks like they’re a few tweaks away from being onto something. But regardless, this was a decent, well worked match where everyone tried and the crowd got a nice result in Stuka overcoming a 3-2 disadvantage to beat Mephisto with the Stuka Splash. Now if someone can explain to me why that doesn’t give him a Welterweight Championship shot or his team a Mexican National Trios Championship shot, that would be swell.
Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas defeated Dragón Lee, Mistico, Titán two falls to one
If only CMLL had given this match the time the last one got; what fun this would’ve been. Instead these guys got MAYBE ten minutes to strut their stuff, and I was left with the same feeling I get whenever I watch the Buffy series finale.
It really is a shame because once these guys got going, this match was exactly what you expected from it. Negro Casas clicked with just about everyone in this match, and his strike exchanges with Titán and Dragón Lee will never cease to be entertaining. Cavernario was super. Felino, forever the third wheel, did a good job staying out of the way and making others look good. And it goes without saying that all three technicos were stellar, with Titán even breaking formula by using his handstand to transition into a roll up as opposed to a headscissors. This was some seriously good stuff, which just makes it all the more unfortunate that it got around ten minutes. It also didn’t help that this match appeared to be leading nowhere after, despite Casas getting a clean pin on Dragón Lee that, you’d think, would set up a title match between the two next week. I don’t know if CMLL backed off because they seem keen on doing Rush-Carístico for next week’s show or what, but that seemed peculiar. That said I probably would’ve lived with it if they had given these guys more time to have a great match instead of a good one. Frankly the only thing CMLL needed to do was time the last match like they did this and vice versa. With less time, Stuka and the gang against the Infiernos is tighter, features far fewer suicide dives and avoids the choppiness, while this match sizzles with more time for everyone to work their magic. Instead we got what we got, and we’re left with two decent bouts that could’ve been better. The story of CMLL Puebla everyone.
Pierroth, Rush, Volador Jr. defeated Carístico, Diamante Azul, Euforia two falls to none
Forget the match here sports fans. There was nothing substantial to be gleamed from the in ring action at all, as the technicos got zero offense in and the match was quicker than Stewie Griffin in his own film. No, the story wasn’t the match but two other things; Volador Jr. coming out in a Los Ingobernables baseball jersey that he wore throughout the match and a post match segment that saw Carístico challenge Rush to a match, followed by Rush unmasking Carístico (the third time he had done that tonight) and then throwing a crate full of beer into his head!
Now, what does all of that mean? Well for the latter it means that Carístico and Rush are on a collision course for a match next week, which is fine and dandy by me; both guys are great when motivated, they’ll both be motivated next week and the fact that the match could be an Anniversary Show precursor (considering Carístico and Rush have feuded a tad on Friday nights) may give the match some added importance. As for Volador wearing Ingobernables colors and chilling with them for a third straight week, that’s less certain. It could easily just be Volador paling around with Rush and Pierroth as some technicos do in these Relevos Increibles matches before he goes back to being a good guy soon after. But the fact that Volador has now done this three straight weeks, came out in the jersey AND was just mentioned by Rush as a guy who’d be a great fit in the group…it’s hard not to wonder if maybe something is in the works here. Whatever the case is it looks like we’ll have to wait, as Volador isn’t booked for the rest of the week. All the more reason why next Monday’s Carístico-Rush match will be one to watch (if CMLL does go that route) and a big reason why this main event did its job even while it was being the worst match of the night. Only in CMLL and only in Arena Puebla! I feel like I said that two too many times in this column.
Wrap it up boys and girls! I’m off to watch some more How I Met Your Mother and prepare for the two columns I’m hoping to bang out tomorrow. Till then, THIS!
