MLJ: Cavernario vs Titan 8: Marco Corleone, Super Porky, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Thunder & BONUS Casas/Santo vs Juvi/Nicho

Aired: 2015-05-09
Taped: 2015-04-28 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
Marco Corleone, Super Porky, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Thunder

I'm keeping this one short and tacking on another match, because this was probably the most Nothing Match in the history of Nothing Matches. My guess is that they actually did more to build up the Titan vs Cavernario title match during the cibernetico they ran around this time. That was in Arena Mexico a week before the title match. This was after that but in Guadalarja and there's just nothing to it. When I was halfway through it, the Busca cibernetico started and that was a godsend because it let me pause this and watch that instead.

I think it was clipped which didn't help but even if it wasn't I'm not sure that it'd matter. Niebla had been suspended after the Japan tour for being Niebla and he was completely and utterly unrepentent here upon his return. Porky was more immobile than ever. No one wants to see Thunder and Marco and I like Marco more than most people. I do think that they've worked enough that they've developed some effective shtick but it's nothing I want to see. They didn't let anything breathe. The heat lasted less than a minute. The comeback, the same. The opening exchanges were brief. On the one hand, it drained any emotional reaction from the match other than a slight guffaw. On the other, I'm not sure I wanted to see five minutes of punishment on Porky by Thunder.

In the midst of all this, you'd figure that Titan and Cavernario would be the saving grace of the match, and maybe in a bubble it should have been. They hit a lot of their stuff, including the reverse monkey flip/superkick spot. Titan hit his moonsault at the end. Cavernario had some great flurries of offense. They did the press up dropkick. It's just that I've seen them run through this stuff so much recently that it, in and of itself, wasn't enough to carry a match.

I will say this. The crowd seemed really happy with this match, and they always seem happy with matches like this. They get a kick out of Marco's antics. They love the spit spot. Porky got a big chant after he fell off the apron onto Niebla. Zacarias got involved. You can't fault a match too much when it's a big crowd pleaser. It sure didn't add to my excitement for the impending title match though.

2001-12-21 @ Arena México
El Hijo Del Santo & Negro Casas © b Juventud Guerrera & Nicho el Millionario [CMLL TAG]

I felt bad for dumping the previous match on everyone without providing something a little more interesting as well. This just dropped online in the last week or two. It's a bit of a mess to be honest, but it's a mess wrestled by guys so talented that it's still worth watching. There's a real novelty to seeing Santo and Casas pair up against Nicho and Juvi.

I just don't have a ton to say about it. Juvi was so dynamic and so great at using his own body as a weapon, but he and Nicho could definitely hang. They felt like they belonged in the ring, but there was also a sense of them being outsiders having come in to challenge for the belts. There were some individually nice spots, like the way Nicho took out Santo on a reversal in the primera or Casas killing Juvi with a hotshot and the huge Santo tope that followed. It was the first time I've seen Santo and Casas do a Doomsday Device with a Santo tope (non-suicida) off the top and the first time I've seen Santo do a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron.

All in all, it had the real feel of an attraction match. It just needed a few more minutes and a bit more focus. It's worth watching as a novelty though.