CMLL GdR 8/4/07 & FSE 8/5/07

Written By Robert Bihari

CMLL GdR 8/4/07:

Dark Angel/Diana La Cazadora/Marcela vs La Amapola/La Nazi/Princesa Sujei: Pretty awful. I expected a good match to build to the singles match the following week. First problem was the finish to the first fall. Getting a surprise submission on for the win is always a good finish in my book but it has to be convincing. In this case Amapola just grabbed Marcela during the beatdown and put her in a Swastika. I don’t think the crowd even realized it was over. Hell, I wouldn’t have realized it was over if the graphic to end the fall hadn’t come up before the refs even signalled the submission. I thought things might pick up in the second fall but it was more of the same beatdown. Right when the tecnicas made their comeback they did dives and Marcela was left with Amapola. Marcela got a nearfall and then Amapola pinned her quite easily. Really bad build to a singles match. Why should Amapola get a title shot? If she had (wo)manhandled Marcela throughout the match, I’d have bought it. If she had scored a surprise submission and a surprise pin, I’d have bought it. But all this match told me was 3 rudas beat up Marcela and Amapola was lucky enough to have been the one to go for the submission and pin. This is what rushed booking will get you. Oh and…

La Mascara/La Sombra/Tony Rivera vs Misterioso II/Sangre Azteca/Virus: Mostly a rudos beatdown until the comeback. Mascara does his usual lame tope suicida with barely any impact. He better never find out he is adopted. Sombra uses a cool moonsault plancha on Misterioso for the highlight of the match. Virus fakes a low blow to take the first fall. Second fall was really rushed (probably clipped). Mascara did a frankensteiner off the apron which is still not that cool. After some miscommunication, the refs pretend to be looking at something going on outside the ring so Virus can low blow and pin Rivera for the straight falls win. Hair match challenges follow… or not. I guess they did live but not on TV. These type of finishes lead to a lightning match, not a hair match. Why should Rivera hate Virus? Why should Virus give Rivera a hair match just b/c he was dumb enough to lose in two falls?

Worst episode of the year for this show. Horrible booking, zero wrestling except for ONE ENTIRE EXCHANGE by Mascara and Misterioso in the main event and finishes booked by a 10 year old retarded kid.

On a sidenote, it used to be quite the story for people not farmiliar with Lucha Libre to hear some wrestlers work 3 or 4 times a day on the weekend. But these days I think guys could work 7 or 8 times if there were enough shows close by and they could have matches like the above. Sombra did a moonsault plancha and flying dropkick. That was his work for the day. Dark Angel did a tope suicida as her work for the day. Pathetic.

CMLL FSE 8/5/07:

Leono/Sagrado/Tony Rivera vs Eclipse/Misterioso II/Okumura: What is the world coming to when this is the best match on the weekend shows? I quite enjoyed this. Eclipse wasn’t as bad as cubs’ report led me to believe. You can see he has potentital… he’s just at least 5 or 6 years away from reaching it. He still doesn’t look like he was ever taught to bump right.:/ And for a big guy, he really shouldn’t be doing high flying moves like a standing moonsault. Differentiate yourself! You’re twice the size of everyone else! I guess it was easy for people to be confused about how good he was considering when he was Rey Tigre, there was a pattern about who he faced on a weekly basis and probably made him look like a million bucks. Your clue is his name rhymes with MOOLIGAN! No, it isn’t Ramstein. But back to the match… it had a good pace and I’m always happy when a match that looks awful on paper turns out to be decent. Like the opposite of the above show I reviewed. Third fall had a great triple dive spot and the finish actually had nearfalls and a smart finish! WHOA!

Universo 2000 vs Dos Caras Jr. – CMLL Heavyweight Title Bout: I’m not a fan of either of these guys in singles matches so I really didn’t like this but it wasn’t bad. Just not my style I guess. Universo is good when brawling, not when trying to make us think he is trying to win an old-style title match. Dos Caras is good when throwing rudos around using his size, not selling all match long. So I think they worked this badly. Dos Jr.’s third fall dive was neat and the finish showed they at least thought a LITTLE BIT about how to surprise the fans but it wasn’t enough to make me give this a passing grade.

Very average episode only saved by the opener exceeding my expectations. Next week’s show has Stuka Jr. opposite the Infernales in a trios match and a great looking main event. So will the FSE show suck and the GdR show with two singles matches step up to the plate and win the battle? We’ll see.