CMLL Sin Salida 2023 - 01/01/2023
Faby vs. Marcela
Faby Apache has her first singles match in CMLL ever! And she immediately shows her personality, mugging at the crowd while she has Marcela in a hold. The first fall was solid. Faby has so much charisma and runs through some neat technical exchanges with Marecela, giving her some offence before putting her away for the 3 count. Faby followed up with more nasty offence before Marcela gave her a taste of her own medicine. The crowd seemed to boo her though, which confused me as she is the CMLL Luchadora unlike Faby who isn’t. Arena Mexico has always been opposite land though going back to the days when they’d boo Hijo del Santo. Marcela whacks Faby in the face and finishes her off with a diving footstomp. The action continued to flare up in the final fall with hair pulling from the Romero Special Surfboard position. Marcela does some cool submission work, doing a cool Muta Lock variation upside down and doing the stretch muffler as a counter to an armbar from Faby. They were able to pull off some effective nearfalls which got the crowd rocking a few times and were able to do some terrific sequences like Faby rolling through a dropkick to get to her feet and hit a shining wizard for a two count. The finish was a double count out, ending the match with no winner. I hope that this was the first of a tremendous series but that will remain to be seen. And while it was a finish that may draw the ire of most, even the execution of it fit and flowed into the rest of the match. It came from the two losing sight of the referee’s counting with the two being more interested in hitting each other. This was one heck of a match between two veteran luchadoras who captured a certain heated, feisty spirit throughout and captured it even more with the post match promos where Marcela was trying to get more time and Faby was stalling and being bitchy to the crowd. Tremendos stuff. ***3/4
CMLL Super Viernes 2023 - 06/01/2023
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Soberano Jr. vs. Templario
After their heck of a match last year, I was excited to watch another one, especially when we couldn’t get one at the Anniversario (well potentially) due to injury. Strong lock up to start the match before the two exchange and work a few surfboards. The first fall follows that pattern of the two mirroring each other and playing to the crowd until Templario rolls through and pins Soberano Jr after a spinning splash attempt. Templario then goes to the apron and points out a little kid who’s dressed up like him. I love lucha so much. Templario continued his form into the second fall, catching Soberano, who is mid-air, with a sweet dropkick. Soberarno flipped around and landed hard on the canvas. Templario batters Soberano with kicks as well. No matter the position of the ring, he would find a way to boot Soberano in the chest. But Soberano caught him out with a springboard dropkick to even up the falls. So quick and precise from Soberano. The final fall escalated things greatly: a dive over the turnbuckle was busted out by Soberano Jr, Templario hit his amazing pop up powerbomb that Soberano took wonderfully, a running over the top rope flip piledriver. That only got a two count though. But Soberarno quickly followed up with one on the outside which got a much closer two count. A genuine good nearfall there. However, a third piledriver was the closing trick that got Soberano Jr the win. An awesome match towards the end with the two falls before it really being solid building blocks. ***1/2
CMLL Super Viernes 2023 - 13/01/2023
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Virus vs. Dulce Gardenia
It’s been a fair few minutes since I’ve checked out a modern Virus match. The last match I watched of Virus’ was maybe the Metalico match, which was tremendous. This started off pretty cool with Virus showing off his class, by effortlessly working the arm of Gardenia. Gardenia is pretty funky. I enjoyed his little dance before he applied a over the top wrist lock but Virus gave up playing games quickly after that, nastily attacking his leg with an indian deathlock before submitting Gardenia with a classic lucha submission hold that I couldn’t even fathom nor try to describe. Virus is awesome in the second fall, too, I thought. He smashes Gardenia into the ropes and turnbuckles with venom and treats him like dirt for most of it. Gardenia has some little glimpses of offence, like a hip attack, circa Shiro Koshinaka, and a sunset powerbomb. Gardenia pulls off a submission of his own that twisted Virus’ neck with his arm and his body with his leg; cool holds galore in the match. The match continued with Gardenia showing off before Virus cut him short with a wrist lock and a slap for his troubles. The match spilled to the floor via an armdrag where Gardenia hit an asai moonsault that kind of missed but there was some contact still. There was terrific form on the dive though. The match ends on a soft note however with Gardenia submitting Virus with a stretch muffler headscissors type move with not much build. But it was an exciting match overall, littered with tremendous skill and technique. ***3/4
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Euforia vs. Hechicero
Infernales vs Infernales! Like Virus, Hechicero is a maestro. But a much larger, heavier version. So this works somewhat like that. The first fall is pretty uneventful except with a brief exchange that ended with a cross armbreaker turned into a gogoplata which was neat. The second fall is pretty much the same except Hechicero bumbles his way into a double arm stretch submission. The third fall picked up with some neat high flying action. Hechicero fly about himself in impressive fashion given his size. His tope over the top ropes feel very dangerous for both men. But that’s the beauty of it. There were some not-so good moments as well, like when Euforia almost fall off the top rope. It was just too awkward to ignore. They tried to recover with a big nearfall but the match didn’t seem to get any momentum until the actual finish. Hechicero hit two sweet knees in the corner before ending it with a rolling cradle into a sort of boston crab. This wasn’t really that good unfortunately. Uneven at the end, slow and plodding for the rest. **1/4
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match: Rocky Romero & Volador Jr. vs. Averno & Mistico
I thought I’d watch this in the lead up to the big Rocky Romero v Volador Jr match in the following week. The first fall was awesome. Rocky and Volador worked together well, matching each others’ rudo energy, working aggressively towards both the wrestlers and the crowd. Mistico and Averno have the legacy so they were super over with the crowd and didn’t need to do much before the finish of the first fall which included a sub + pin combination. Mistico got very carried away with the atmosphere, going into the crowd and dancing on a platform. Rocky Romero and Mistoc had a show-off to start the second fall, playing to the crowd for reactions, before chopping each other’s chest until one fell. The match starts to tease a potential riff between Rocky and Volador Jr when Rocky accidently hits a tope con hilo on his partner. This comes ahead when Volador comes into the ring and starts brawling with Rocky, which allows Averno and Mistico to beat the two to conclude the match 2-0. Good match. Good angle. ***1/2
Rocky Romero vs. Volador Jr.
Good two minutes of wrestling. The finish was Rocky fouling Volador Jr while the ref was stunted from contact with Volador Jr and rolling him up to win. That is definitely something to add to his little segment. They talk with each other on the mics afterwards, most likely setting up the match which is set for the next week! **
CMLL Super Viernes 2023 - 20/01/2023
NWA World Historic Welterweight Title Match: Volador Jr. (c) vs. Rocky Romero
The first portion of the match was all Rocky Romero establishing himself as the rudo between the two, despite the fact that Volador Jr was the one who attacked Rocky last week. Rocky dominated the match while working the crowd with taunts and mean faces. Simple yet effective for the rabid crowd. The rest of the match, however, was a high octane, fast paced match with plenty of high spots to amaze the crowd. Structured well enough not to be a mindless spotfest though. This made the nearfalls much more compelling, as well as making the sequences more interesting and impactful when they come. The finish was awesome as well. Rocky Romero was able to hit transition into a cross arm-breaker off the top rope and keep it applied when they hit, giving Volador Jr no chance but to tap, crowning a new champion! Awesome title match. Volador enquiries about a hair vs hair match which Rocky dismisses, saying that Volador Jr has to beat him first. Hopefully a sign that this match isn’t over. ***3/4
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