CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 12/3/11

Virus/Polvora/Euforia vs. Metro/Dragon Lee/Fuego:

I really really liked this. I kinda assumed it was just gonna be a throwaway, some tossed off third match on a Friday night Arena Mexico show, but everybody in here got a chance to shine. Some did OK, and others really shone. Metro looked GREAT here, and the whole match was practically structured like a Metro showcase. Metro looked absolutely killer in this, whether he was getting punched in the neck repeatedly by Virus (and man can Virus throw a bunch of great punches to the neck), bumping wildly to the floor, hitting his boss somersault senton into the corner, doing a rad sliding single leg takedown, cool little standing spin kick ro Euforia on the apron, just everything. I was thinking of listing him as one of my "Most Underrated" in my WON ballot, but this whole match was pretty much "Hey, check out this here Metro guy", and Gala chose to air this instead of the Blue Panther/Negro trios and the Tiffany lightning match, so I guess he's a known commodity. Crowd was going nuts by the 3rd fall of this, mainly helped by the rudos going into beatdown overdrive in the 2nd. All the standard rudo beatdown greatest hits, just played twice as fast with no room for breathing. Euforia stood out more than usual, too, holding things together when Virus was on the apron. Dragon Lee got to hit a spectacular springboard shooting star press in the 3rd, Virus got to be Virus, etc. Basically, if you're fans of any of these guys, you would enjoy this match.



Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Escorpion/Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Atlantis/Jushin Liger/Delta:

This was one of those hyper-rushed CMLL main events that don't really do much good for anybody. Nobody really looked bad (although Escorpion had too many noticeable moments of standing around, adjusting his wrist tape, waiting to get into position), but these "3 falls in 8 minutes" matches are just pointless. It's all messed up right from the beginning, when the tecnicos attack the rudos on the stairs to start...and then the rudos just instantly beat their asses. That looks bad. Not only do the tecnicos cheat, but then it immediately gets turned on them. Ultimo tore it up in his limited time here, and I'm convinced nobody bumps better to the floor than he does. Rojo hits his cool inside-out dropkick to the apron, super rushed pinfalls happen. I guess I just don't see the point.

There were a couple matches from this taping that didn't make the Galavision airing that looked intriguing to me, so I figure I'll link them below and mention if they're worth checking out or not.



Tiffany vs. Estrellita lightning match:

Match is pretty much worth watching for Tiffany's amazing entrance gear, as she has a collared cape and tiara and catsuit and looks like the evil queen from Snow White mixed with Catwoman. Super awesome. Match was fun for the 8 minutes it lasted, with Tiffany being a great bumper for lady offense, and then controlling with great dickish things like chops to the boobs. Match ended odd with Estrellita going for an ill-advised springboard tornillo suicida, which totally misses the mark and causes her to go *splat* on the floor. Count out, stretcher job, Tiffany wins. I don't remember Estrellita trying something like that. Maybe there's a good reason why...



Negro Casas/Felino/Mr. Niebla vs. Blue Panther/La Sombra/Shocker:

Odd that this whole episode was pushing Panther/Felino hair vs. hair match, yet they choose to show some throwaway Liger match instead of a match featuring Felino and Casas headbutting and kicking Panther in the head. Match itself is fun and plenty hate-filled, would have made a much better use of time than that lousy main event we ended up getting instead. Casas and Felino took it to Panther in the first 2 falls, with Panther kinda snapping at the end of the 2nd and wrenching in the Fujiwara armbar HARD on Casas, then locking an ankle lock on Felino in the 3rd (with him biting Felino's feet). Sombra looked really good, too, showing a lot of personality. His superkick to the back of Zacharias' (you KNOW I spelled that one wrong) dome was great. Also loved Niebla walking around punching guys at will. Plenty of fun stuff here. No clue why it wasn't shown on TV when it dealt directly with the match they were hyping.