CMLL celebrates the 76th anniversary of the promotion tonight, with it's biggest show of the year. Just the same as every CMLL card, it's centered around the top couple of matches, with little more than a nod to possible future issues in the undercard.
Opener: Dark Angel & Lady Apache vs Amapola & Hiroka
CMLL's women are back on the card, after being left off last year's card. Lady Apache and Dark Angel (who appears to have a busy weekend in front of her) are CMLL's two most popular female wrestlers. Amapola is the current world champ, and Hiroka is...okay, but has no stronger reason for being included. It's surprising Princesa Blanca is not in her spot, as pushed as she's been this year after joining the rudas and winning the national women's title. It may be a coincidence, or a signal of plans for the main event, but not a single member of Negro Casas' Peste Negra group (Mr. Niebla & Felino) or anyone in the extended family (brother Heavy Metal, sister-in-law Blanca, and nephews Tiger Kid & Puma King) are scheduled to work this show. On the other side, it's a shame Marcela isn't includes on the tecnica side, since she may be the best working women in all of Mexico at the moment, but CMLL books it's openers as pairs matches, with few exceptions.
This should be a strong opener that'll get the crowd going. The CMLL audience seems to only just tolerate most women's matches, but genuinely likes Apache and Angel and will probably get a win for them here.
Second Match: Bam Bam, Eléctrico, Pequeño Olímpico vs Pequeño Damian 666, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito
A mixed bag. Outside of a special singles match in front of an unusually large crowd, this is probably the biggest pay day the native wrestlers will receive this year, so being included appears to be a reward for performance and reliability. Minis Pierroth, Damian and Bam Bam easily fit the performance criteria, with Pequeño Warrior not far off. Mini Olímpico is a veteran who's been around forever, if only a bit more noteworthy than his namesake's career. Eléctrico is the outlier. He's not hopeless, but he seems more project than polished. His biggest asset is his physique, which definitely is increasing in importance here, but still shouldn't be enough to put him ahead of those with more talent and more tenure.
The minis division has lagged behind it's success of 2008. While last year was about the top wrestlers battling it out, the few notable matches this year were centered around older wrestlers getting one last pay day by losing their mask, or their hair, or both over a couple months. Most of the rest has been filler. Occasionally pretty good, but usually filler. This is more of that. Not that it matters who wins, but the rudos getting a win seems to balance decisions elsewhere on this show.
Third Match: Hijo del Fantasma, Máscara Dorada, Sagrado vs Dragon Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca
The minis and the womens showcase the diversity of CMLL's product. The top 3 matches spotlight feuds or wrestlers. This is the one match which seems to exist only because there had to be six matches and to get these wrestlers on the show.
Sagrado, forever the Proto Man to Mistico's MegaMan, has evolved into a sort of midcard gatekeeper. If you're used in a better spot than him, you're actually relevant. Still trying to figure out if Mascara Dorada is above or below him; he started out with a similar botch filled first few months, settled down and improved when constantly booked against Virus and Felino, but remains inconsistent. He will certainly be spectacular, and hopefully will do so in a positive way. Hijo del Fantasma is secretly the next big tecnico star of this promotion; he's enough of what the fans like about Místico without coming off like a repeat (Sombra) or the baggage of years of stop and start pushes (Volador). He's got talent, a presence, and family connections, the best of all possible worlds here.
Rudos are a bit interesting. Dragon Rojo Jr. & Sangre Azteca are two third of the Poder Mexica trio. Black Warrior is third, and they've far exceeded expectations - the group seemed to exist only because these were the only three pushed rudos who were not yet in a group, but they've become the promotion's most entertaining rudo trio. The problem is Warrior seems less than interested in being in a trio, desiring to be a singles wrestler of more importance instead. While Warrior gets a little bit of that in the semimain, Misterioso - useful, but always lost in the mix - fills in here, as he's done a lot lately. As a permanent member, Misterioso would surely be more dedicated to the group concept, but Warrior gives the group much more relevance. Black Warrior carries himself as a star like few other and his inclusion demands the group be treated with more importance.
Two long paragraphs about the participants because there's not a lot to say about the match. It'll be okay to good, you'll have to track down someone's notes to remember the finish a week later. Flip a coin and figure the tecnicos win.
Fourth Match: La Máscara, La Sombra, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto
They could do this match while asleep. And they may, I guess. Sombra & Volador have faces Averno & Hijo de Avernos in countless iterations over the last few shows. It turns up a every couple months on TV, and much more often on spot shows. Averno, Mephisto and Ephesto are among the best in making high flyers looking good, and there are no shortage of high flyers to face off against in CMLL. Sombra and Volador are among the best, and the tag team champions after taking them from Averno & Mephisto early this year. CMLL has spent the interceding months attempting to push Volador & Sombra as the hottest team in the promotion, putting them over every available top rudo combination to build to as Mistico's (near) equals. It hasn't quite taken, but it's not quite over.
La Mascara is the extra man in here. In the last year, he's grown into his spot, and now seems to exist because of more than his family name. Strangely, he's done it by acquiring lucha libre's emphasizing of baseball's Old Hitter skills. What he does well is what you'd expect luchadors near the end of the careers to do: maybe a good dive or a showy armdrag, but his strength is being a solid wrestler who's going to hold up his end, and his finish is a classic lucha hold. He wrestles the match, and works the spots, you'd normally pencil in for an old star who's moving down the cards instead of someone going the other way. It works for CMLL, because there's no few actual old stars for that spot; they've either been turned rudo to work with the youngsters or they've been purged from the roster. La Mascara doesn't have the history to work that role, but it's better than having no role.
This match is probably best as a What If for the main event: Averno showing what might have happened had he gotten the main event instead of Negro Casas, and the tecnicos being examples for what might horribly gone wrong int he main event. If there's a spot for rudos to foul a tecnico and get away with it on this show, this is it.
Semimain: Black Warrior, Héctor Garza, Shocker Atlantis, Último Guerrero vs Jushin Liger, Naito, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro
Actual matches that matter! This took long enough.
The story here is No Limit has been terrorizing the light heavyweights of CMLL since arriving, with things really picking up after Naito took Toscano's hair to win June's cage match. Since the moment that match ended, there's been build towards one of the unmasked tecnicos here - Garza, Shocker, and Warrior - avenging their countryman's loss against No Limit, who've accused the Mexicans of being scared. Meanwhile, Jushin Liger is managing to feud with the top tecnico and the top rudo simultaneously during his short stay here. He's presumably trying to even the score from Ultimo Guerrero beating him in the final of the International Gran Prix last time Liger was in Mexico, but it's more simply two (or three) guys declaring themselves the best in the world and fighting over the claim. Okumura rounds on the match because they needed someone who could speak both languages.
In the last few hours, CMLL's changed the lineup for the match. Atlantis is in Shocker's spot. Shocker last is known to have worked on Wednesday in Guadalajara, and no injury was mentioned by those reporting on the match.
CMLL's made this match very easy in the hype: it's the Mexicans putting aside their differences to prove their country is better than any other country. CMLL's fanbase, just the same as every other promotion, eats it up when the home team is able to fight off the invaders, and this will be no different. The Japan side has won nearly every match in the build up, including Liger going over both Guerrero and Místico in a three day span last week, both times fouling the Mexican wrestler and getting away with it for the win. That points to a fighting fire with fire finish. But who?
Liger is only here for a month, so there's gotta be some point where CMLL (and NJPW) make it clear if we're supposed to be hoping for him to have the big match with Ultimo Guerrero and Místico, and there's clearly more value in the Místico match. In other circumstances, Guerrero gets his loss back on Liger here, but it doesn't seem like worthwhile to have Liger lose in when he'll still be around for another 10 days. The other feud has long been telegraphing a Yujiro/Warrior hair match, with No Limit moving on to face Shocker & Garza after that, and that story is much more likely to be reflected in the finish here. Warrior picks up the pin here, and makes the hair match challenge, to get the date out in front of the largest possible crowd.
Main Event: Místico vs Negro Casas [mask vs hair]
And this. This'll be the fourth time these two have met in Arena Mexico this year, plus one more in Arena Coliseo. They seem to have been holding back a little from the last two (from the little I've got to see, anyway.) The first two were so great, maybe the best CMLL has had in 2009, they made it obvious that this must be the anniversary main event. A mask vs mask match might have been more important, but this has been the feud of the year, and it's only right it ends this way. As is, it's still the best build anniversary main event in 3 years, since Místico faced Black Warrior, the last time CMLL spent this much time on a build. 2007's main event was coasting on a hot promotion, and 2008's was a thrown together match when the one they wanted fell apart. This year, CMLL seemed to setup a couple of backup plans, but didn't actually need them.
It's reasonable for people who don't follow lucha libre to ask why people turn out for this match, or why people turn out for Santo mask matches or anyone else where the finish is clear as soon as the match is announced. It's not the way big matches are built elsewhere, but it's still a weird mix of sports and well read fiction. For those who will root for Místico, this is like being in the building when your favorite team wins the championship. There's something towards surprises, but it'll matter more to you that you were in the building, that you got to see it, and that you were a little part of a really big moment of something you care about. If it's done right, it's an event you'll never forget, and you get to buy tickets in advancing knowing. Why wouldn't you want to be there?
Místico will win, either with La Mistica or maybe with a casita, right in the middle of the ring. Not a single person will be surprised and it'll still go over great. Every match is a story, and if you're capable of telling a great story, it doesn't matter if everyone's heard the ending. Negro Casas is one of the greatest storytellers of his generation, maybe of all time, and no one brings more drama than Místico The lucha libre MOTY at the moment is Mesias vs Dr. Wagner Jr. at TripleMania. Just as sure as Místico is going to take Negro's hair, I expect this match to be challenging for that spot.
thecubsfan
luchablog.com ← covering this show tonight (probably) twitter.com/luchablog
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