Forjando un Idolo Round 1 Comments
Diamante/Puma King: Good match to start the tournament off. I'm figuring the winner will be one of the two guys who are going to marry into the Casas family so Diamante has a great chance to go all the way. Puma King is always great and has an awesome moveset. Nothing wrong here.
Hombre Bala Jr. vs Hijo Del Signo: Bala is the greenest guy in the tournament along with Dragon Lee but he got matched up well here b/c Signo is really underrated. In fact I'm surprised he's in CMLL b/c he doesn't fit their definition of a young rudo since he likes to work the mat and is very unspectacular to the average fan. Bala's tope suicida was nuts but this was all about Signo controlling the youngster with some fun armwork.
Rey Cometa vs Palacio Negro: Dream match! I'm cheering for Cometa to win this thing even though the odds are stacked against him. He carried Palacio Negro nicely here and it was good to hear the crowd 100% in the corner of Cometa. They did some really tricky stuff early on with only the headscissors off the ramp not coming off well. Palacio did a great job saving Cometa's life when his hand slipping off the ropes during his big dive. They botched the finish badly but shit happens. Overall this was really fun.
Angel De Oro vs Escorpion: I'm not giving Escorpion any chance to win this tournament b/c he won the Gran Alternativa and I get the feeling the only reason this tournament is happening is b/c one of the bookers was unhappy at how the Gran Alternativa was booked. So no surprise that Angel De Oro went over here. Solid match with nice teasing of Angel De Oro's finisher. Ending didn't feel like a ripoff, just felt like Escorpion had no choice but to yank the mask and try to steal a win. Post-match stuff was really well done.
Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Metal Blanco: This shocked the hell out of me! I have never been a fan of Metal Blanco who has always come off as a Mistico/Valiente clone but he really stepped up here and hung in there with Black Terry's kid. All the credit in the world to Maya as well as he clearly carried things and some of the submissions he used were out of this world! The king you only see in IWRG rings these days. Unfortunately this was a Friday crowd so they were very impatient in both matches and it seemed to throw both guys off during their roll-up exchange in the middle of the match but as they gain experience they'll overcome that kinda thing. Super happy that Maya went over and confirms my thoughts that the two Gran Alternativa finalists don't stand much of a chance in this tournament. Hoping Maya is the surprise of this tournament and goes far.
Delta vs Dragon Lee: I heard this went 12 minutes and that sounded absolutely frightening since both guys are not only very green but also completely lost when they are in the ring without veterans (or somtimes even with!). Yet surprisingly this wasn't the mess I figured it would be. Delta didn't bother trying to do his wacky flying that he isn't meant to be doing in the first place and aside from the typical awkward spots you'd expect from a rookie (an elbowdrop? Seriously?) Dragon Lee hung in there quite nicely. Thought for sure the match was over when Delta hit his moonsault so that was a great nearfall and they had me into every nearfall after that as well.
Angel De Plata vs Magnus: Incredible. Not the match itself nor either of the wrestlers. Incredible is the person who put this together. I'm thinking the maestros are in charge of putting these matches together and that's why everyone keeps trying to one-up the other. This match looked like a trainwreck on paper but ended up being really good b/c they let Angel De Plata control 80% which in turn only allowed for Magnus to get in a few big spots which is really all he is capable of at this point. Plata was much better here playing the role of the rudo who controls the match which was his role where he came from and the role he should be put in. Magnus kept up aside from some awkwardness early on however he is not long for this world if he keeps doing that dive of his. At least Fantastik and Super Astro would land on their opponents and roll with the move. Magnus just goes straight up and straight down while missing his opponent to protect them. Dumb. Finish was a letdown. This looks like Magnus' group to lose.
Fuego vs Polvora: Hard to be the last set of guys to come out after everyone else had delivered so far. These are the two veterans of the 16 guys so I expected a lot. The matwork early on was really good and the best part of the match. It dragged as it went on and by the end they both slipped into the usual CMLL tendencies of posing for the crowd too much. Was nice to see some finisher countering though. Finish came out of nowhere. Not a bad match but easily the worst out of all 8 opening round matches. Not a good sign for Fuego to have a so-so match AND lose AND have his next match tonight against Angel De Plata who will likely go over.
As for my predictions... I am 6-2 after round one. Seems like I've got a good grasp on how Group Alpha and Group Delta would go but I screwed up by picking draws in the other groups. Doing better than Mr. Cubsfan! HA! (Note to self: Do not brag about understanding CMLL booking...)
EDIT: As soon as I published this it was revealed Metal Blanco got an extra point for winning the fan voting. Somehow he magically jumped to 44% over the weekend leapfrogging Rey Cometa who had 20something% and was leading. If the tournament has been pre-booked (and one would assume it has...) they would have needed to know where these extra points were going ahead of time so the right people win. Thus I've concluded the fan voting is fixed which makes me sad. It also makes me a mark. It will also ruin my predictions.:(
Hombre Bala Jr. vs Hijo Del Signo: Bala is the greenest guy in the tournament along with Dragon Lee but he got matched up well here b/c Signo is really underrated. In fact I'm surprised he's in CMLL b/c he doesn't fit their definition of a young rudo since he likes to work the mat and is very unspectacular to the average fan. Bala's tope suicida was nuts but this was all about Signo controlling the youngster with some fun armwork.
Rey Cometa vs Palacio Negro: Dream match! I'm cheering for Cometa to win this thing even though the odds are stacked against him. He carried Palacio Negro nicely here and it was good to hear the crowd 100% in the corner of Cometa. They did some really tricky stuff early on with only the headscissors off the ramp not coming off well. Palacio did a great job saving Cometa's life when his hand slipping off the ropes during his big dive. They botched the finish badly but shit happens. Overall this was really fun.
Angel De Oro vs Escorpion: I'm not giving Escorpion any chance to win this tournament b/c he won the Gran Alternativa and I get the feeling the only reason this tournament is happening is b/c one of the bookers was unhappy at how the Gran Alternativa was booked. So no surprise that Angel De Oro went over here. Solid match with nice teasing of Angel De Oro's finisher. Ending didn't feel like a ripoff, just felt like Escorpion had no choice but to yank the mask and try to steal a win. Post-match stuff was really well done.
Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Metal Blanco: This shocked the hell out of me! I have never been a fan of Metal Blanco who has always come off as a Mistico/Valiente clone but he really stepped up here and hung in there with Black Terry's kid. All the credit in the world to Maya as well as he clearly carried things and some of the submissions he used were out of this world! The king you only see in IWRG rings these days. Unfortunately this was a Friday crowd so they were very impatient in both matches and it seemed to throw both guys off during their roll-up exchange in the middle of the match but as they gain experience they'll overcome that kinda thing. Super happy that Maya went over and confirms my thoughts that the two Gran Alternativa finalists don't stand much of a chance in this tournament. Hoping Maya is the surprise of this tournament and goes far.
Delta vs Dragon Lee: I heard this went 12 minutes and that sounded absolutely frightening since both guys are not only very green but also completely lost when they are in the ring without veterans (or somtimes even with!). Yet surprisingly this wasn't the mess I figured it would be. Delta didn't bother trying to do his wacky flying that he isn't meant to be doing in the first place and aside from the typical awkward spots you'd expect from a rookie (an elbowdrop? Seriously?) Dragon Lee hung in there quite nicely. Thought for sure the match was over when Delta hit his moonsault so that was a great nearfall and they had me into every nearfall after that as well.
Angel De Plata vs Magnus: Incredible. Not the match itself nor either of the wrestlers. Incredible is the person who put this together. I'm thinking the maestros are in charge of putting these matches together and that's why everyone keeps trying to one-up the other. This match looked like a trainwreck on paper but ended up being really good b/c they let Angel De Plata control 80% which in turn only allowed for Magnus to get in a few big spots which is really all he is capable of at this point. Plata was much better here playing the role of the rudo who controls the match which was his role where he came from and the role he should be put in. Magnus kept up aside from some awkwardness early on however he is not long for this world if he keeps doing that dive of his. At least Fantastik and Super Astro would land on their opponents and roll with the move. Magnus just goes straight up and straight down while missing his opponent to protect them. Dumb. Finish was a letdown. This looks like Magnus' group to lose.
Fuego vs Polvora: Hard to be the last set of guys to come out after everyone else had delivered so far. These are the two veterans of the 16 guys so I expected a lot. The matwork early on was really good and the best part of the match. It dragged as it went on and by the end they both slipped into the usual CMLL tendencies of posing for the crowd too much. Was nice to see some finisher countering though. Finish came out of nowhere. Not a bad match but easily the worst out of all 8 opening round matches. Not a good sign for Fuego to have a so-so match AND lose AND have his next match tonight against Angel De Plata who will likely go over.
As for my predictions... I am 6-2 after round one. Seems like I've got a good grasp on how Group Alpha and Group Delta would go but I screwed up by picking draws in the other groups. Doing better than Mr. Cubsfan! HA! (Note to self: Do not brag about understanding CMLL booking...)
EDIT: As soon as I published this it was revealed Metal Blanco got an extra point for winning the fan voting. Somehow he magically jumped to 44% over the weekend leapfrogging Rey Cometa who had 20something% and was leading. If the tournament has been pre-booked (and one would assume it has...) they would have needed to know where these extra points were going ahead of time so the right people win. Thus I've concluded the fan voting is fixed which makes me sad. It also makes me a mark. It will also ruin my predictions.:(
Labels: cmll, forjando un idolo, lucha libre, wrestling
posted by Rob at 3:49 PM
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