CMLL Guadalajara 2/24/08 & 3/2/08

Written By Robert Bihari

CMLL Guadalajara 2/24/08 + 3/2/08:

El Gallo vs. Misterioso II [OCCCIDENTE LH]: Revenge match after Misterioso cheated to win the belt in the Torneo the previous week. Total by the numbers action with slow work early on, Misterioso taking the first fall and Gallo winning the second fall in seconds. Gallo did two dives to open up the third fall and then it was the regular formula of generic nearfalls you see in most singles matches from Meixco. Gallo made the finish look bad as they did the Bucanero/Guerrero deal where Misterioso hits his big move and makes a sloppy cover and Gallo is supposed to crucifix him for the win… except he is supposed to kick out at two and then roll up Misterioso. Instead he tried to crucifix him right after the big move and Misterioso didn’t go with it so Gallo had to play dead (even though everyone just saw he was alright) and the ref sheepishly counted to two and Misterioso had to act surprised as he got crucifixed for the pinfall. Not good.

Heavy Metal/La Sombra/Volador Jr. vs. Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto: Another by the numbers match although it had some great spots from the tecnicos. Second fall had a triple running somersault plancha with Sombra/Volador LAUNCHING THEMSELVES on one side of the ring as Heavy Metal did his on the other side. Rudos were bump machines in the third fall. My only problem with the exchanges was when Sombra/Efesto got in the ring because they ALWAYS do the exact same spot and two guys like that should easily be able to think up something new to do other than the same somersault into a headscissors they’ve been doing for over 6 months now. Sombra hit Efesto with his tornillo off the second rope in the ring and then yanked Mephisto off the apron trying an asai moonsault. Volador went up top for a moonsault plancha but nailed his own partner taking them both out of the match as Metal got triple teamed and pinned.

Leon Blanco/Metalik/Súper Nova vs. Diamante Negro/Máscara Mágica/Texano Jr. (highlights): Stupid slo-mo Guadalajara highlights! Couple of neat dives but nothing mindblowing. Tecnicos took the match I think.

El Gallo/Leon Blanco/Metalik vs. Malefico/Máscara Mágica/Toxico (GDL): Kinda disapointing as I was hoping Metalik would go all out in his first TV appearence as a semi-main eventer. He seemed to try but blew a couple of spots REALLY BADLY and you combine that with some of his CMLL botches thus far and I’m really worried the youtube clips might have given me the wrong impression of him. But hey – there’s still a bunch more footage of him on the DVD’s so we’ll see. The one spot he blew which would have been incredible was an assisted springboard where he falls down on the ropes with his butt used to spring up and then he twists into a frankensteiner but Magica didn’t go with the move for whatever reason. In the third fall Metalik did manage to bust out his awesome dive though and he did it on an angle which made it look more impressive than normal. Tecnicos took the match.

Grey Shadow/Místico vs. Averno/Mephisto: A carbon copy of the Mistico/Sombra match from almost a month earlier except Shadow doing spots instead of Sombra so naturally it wasn’t as fun. The only change was in the third fall instead of the tecnicos getting a dual pinfall/submission – Shadow got low blowed and eliminated leading to Mistico eliminated Mephisto and then a twist as Mistico/Averno set up for the usual La Mistica finisher except just as he hit the move, Averno yanked off Mistico’s mask for the DQ.

Some entertaining moments but I expected more from these shows.