CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 2/11/12

Haven't done one of these in quite awhile, but that's because CMLL on Galavision hasn't been airing in my area, and LATV has been nothing but reruns dating back to December. It seems like LATV is showing mostly shows from November, some that have already been shown 3 or 4 times. So this show was also taped in November (11/22/11 at Arena Mexico to be exact, thanks Cubsfan!), but I don't know if this actually originally aired. I'm pretty sure I never missed an episode, and this never turned up where it should have. So this may be the first time this has aired in America, even if it's 3 months late.



1. Princess Sugei (Sugheit? I never get this name right)/La Commandante/Zeuxis vs. Dark Angel/Luna Magica/Lluvia:

Well this had a couple nasty spills that came to define the match. First fall went very nicely with Commandante leading Lluvia through some capable-looking matwork and some fun arm drag sequences, and Lluvia holding up her end while wearing an awesome mesh catsuit. Mesh catsuit might have made me forgive some sloppy mat transitions. Sugei and Magica tag in and smoke the previous moves exchanges, but also lacks the mesh. Fall ends with Zeuxis hitting an insane dive on Commandante that sees her fly way overhead and splat at a horribly awkward angle into chairs and chubby front row guys. I'm worried about her spine and Rachel is wondering how her boobs didn't fall out. Magica then splats her with an awesome apron Thesz press. Full point for Zeuxis for getting up from that splat and instantly taking that move. Rest of the match is pretty fun. Dark Angel and Sugei match up nicely together, and I'm a big fan of Sugei who always walks around and slaps people and kicks them in the face. Match ends abruptly with Dark Angel falling off the top rope and crashing to the floor, and then the other two calling an audible and quickly finishing the match with Angel being stretchered out. Too bad the ending had to be that way, the rest of the match was quite nice.



2. Misterioso Jr./Okumrua/Vangellis vs. Sangre Azteca/Diamante/Sagrado:

Really fun match with a bunch of guys that nobody ever really talks about. Misterioso Jr. is probably one of the best current lucha guys that nobody really pimps that much. He takes offense really well and bumps big and can control and reign in a match nicely. Here he gets matched up with the weakest of the bunch, Sagrado, and makes him look good through the whole match (going down like a gunshot for his superkick, splaying out on the floor for his rana). I really like Sangre Azteca, and loved his little mat section with Okumura. Fast paced and he did a few cool ankle picks. Vangellis is a stocky nazi powerhouse who moves fast and can barrel into guys. Diamante is very young but always has a couple nice highspots in his matches (here he hit a solid chest to chest springboard 450). Well worth your 20 minutes.



3. Terrible/Rey Buccanero/Texano Jr. vs. Maximo/Super Porky/Rush:

LATV pulls a vintage LATV move here, showing the first fall of this match, going to commercial and coming back with the 3rd fall of a different match from one week later. They used to do this all the time when they randomly started showing IWRG/AULL stuff. First fall didn't really make me want to watch the other two on youtube. I have been one of the staunchest Porky defenders over the last decade, but some of these throwaway six man performances are getting pretty brutal. The man can still go when he wants to, but the big key is how often does he want to? The hair match teaming with Maximo from early 2011 saw him looking really good, but the first fall had some pretty bad moments including the slowest bump through the ropes onto the rampway I have ever seen. It looked like a youtube video of a panda bear falling off a teeter totter.



4. Averno vs. La Mascara

If this had about 8 minutes lopped off the end then I probably would have liked it a lot more. It just kind of kept going, and the nearfalls just got less exciting the more of them they did. First 8 minutes were all about Averno tearing apart Mascara's knee, and it was some fine knee tearing. I was expecting Mascara to have plenty of moments where he just conveniently sold the knee, but to his credit he sold that knee for like >90% of the match, so gets full credit for that. He even hit an awesome limping tope in the 2nd. The selling wasn't the problem, it's just that there was so much damn lying around by both guys. It had its moments to be sure, but there was so much "Averno bumps to floor, Mascara stays in ring, Averno slowly gets up and walks back to ring" moments. Some of them were cool, like when Brazo de Oro would be glaring at him and Averno would just smugly strut past him. Some of the nearfalls worked great, but it was diminishing returns. 18 minutes of work in a 25 minute match. Not the worst crime as the work onscreen wasn't ever bad, just. needed. to. end.