CMLL Puebla - 12/27/10 (taped 12/20/10)

Asturiano/Centella De Oro/Stigma vs Siki Osama Jr./Espiritu Maligno/Centauro De Fuego: Surprising rough matwork early on with Centella and Espiritu who are usually great. They were very loose and looked awkward trying to throw each other around. Stigma got things going against Siki Osama with an amazing quadrople springboard armdrag. Yes. I did say that. QUADROPLE SPRINGBOARD ARMDRAG! AMAZING! He followed with a headscissors on the floor. They did a nice finishing sequence ending with Osama doing a tope suicida and the rudos putting away Stigma/Centella. Second fall was also good with Asturiano getting to show off and then the rudos taking control. They kept doing assisted power bombs on the tecnicos until Stigma countered with a dropkick which led to a running somersault plancha from Centella and the remaining tecnicos put Centauro/Espiritu away. Third fall was good with lots of near submissions and everyone getting to show off armdrags. Stigma/Asturiano did dual dives and then Centella used an awesome roll-up off the second turnbuckle to put Osama away. Really good match!

Rush/Metro/Metal Blanco vs Okumura/Yoshihashi/Polvora: The TVC graphics had Sagrado listed instead of Metal Blanco. If that isn't everything wrong with CMLL, I don't know what is. I believe this was the first time we all got to see Yoshihashi on TV with his new painted face look which my buddy Bill thinks Okumura suggested since he started his career doing that sort of thing. In another bit of irony this match had a mini-feud with Rush/Yoshihashi which as I write this is the big Puebla feud leading to a hair match in 10 days. Match was pretty standard and formulatic outside of Yoshihashi busted out a reckless tope suicida - a first for him in Mexico! Metal Blanco looked really good and I remember remarking back when I originally watch this that it wouldn't last but he's sure proved me wrong! Crowd and announcers went nuts for his big moonsault dive. Rush got Okumura for the win.

Brazo De Plata/Mascara Dorada/Toscano vs Atlantis/El Averno/Rey Bucanero w/ Periquito: This was the Periquito show and nothing more. He began the match by hitting Porky with a frying pan and was basically inside the ring for the rest of the match. All the tecnicos even did spots with him. Crowd was eating it up and I'm a mark for this type of stuff too so I liked it. A match like this is actually okay when it's surrounded by 3 or 4 good matches. Where a match like this is not good is when you just had a bad match and/or another comedy match. But in this place it was good as I said and was a nice way to calm the crowd down leading into the big main event. Tecs won clean.

Ultimo Guerrero/Dragon Rojo Jr. vs La Mascara/Valiente - CMLL Tag Team Titles: Shocker was originally scheduled here as La Mascara's partner but suffered his injury the day before at Arena Coliseo which still has him out of action to this very day. CMLL found a more than suitable substituion but this match suffered from Ultimo Guerrero being involved so you had the generic Ultimo Guerrero match in tag format. Two short falls with flash finishes and then a long third fall with every generic nearfall you can think of and the tecnicos just walking into Guerrero's big moves. Valiente did his Valiente Especial which the crowd went bonkers for which was a positive. Dragon Rojo looked putrid as usual. He topped his terrible performance off by completely losing Valiente on the finishing power bomb as Ultimo Guerrero did the Guerrero Special on La Mascara for the win. Great example of one of those matches that on paper look fantastic but are not so hot in execution.

Show closing highlights had a great double tornillo from #porraReyCometa!

Enjoyable show until the main event. For someone who doesn't follow Lucha Libre hardcore like I do you may enjoy the main event much more than I did which would make this a great show.

CMLL Puebla - 12/13/10 (taped 12/6/10)

Diamante, Metro, Angel Azteca Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus: Really good match. Not worked at all like the usual formulas you see. Instead the entire match was basically 1-on-1 exchanges with lots of mat wrestling and finishes coming when wrestlers hit their big moves. I really liked how this was put together and I guess I can credit Virus? Diamante took a sick double backdrop in the second fall where he took a 450 bump that didn't look fun. They seemed to head home early because the referee fucked up the finish as he counted Diamante down after Raziel's big inverted pumphandle driver even though Diamante clearly kicked out. To make it worse the ref didn't bother just ignoring it, he physically intervened and shoved Diamante out of the ring. Just amazing incompetence. Metro hit a tope suicida and Azteca made Virus submit for the win.

Brazo De Plata, Blue Panther, Hijo Del Fantasma vs El Averno, Efesto, Rey Bucanero w/ Periquito: Some nice matwork early on with Panther/Averno who are always great to watch work together. They teased Porky wanting to get at Periquito which built to later when the lil' dude kept interfereing and targeting Porky in particular although he found time to do a tope suicida on Fantasma! He even assisted in the win during the second fall by standing on Porky's back during the rudos' triple team submission! Third fall had some dives and then what was supposed to be a surprise finish as Averno/Efesto seemed to have the match won but Porky sat on both Bucanero and Periquito for the win (Bucanero was captain). It was just done so slow that the entire surprise factor was defeated.

Shocker, La Mascara, Strongman vs Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero, Dragon Rojo Jr.: Pretty awful. I haven't consulted the amazing luchablog archives but I wonder if there was a last minute sub here b/c Strongman and the rudos really seemed on the wrong page for most of the match. The idea was to build Shocker/La Mascara as contenders for the tag titles although Shocker ended up getting hurt before that match could take place. Finish here was Ultimo low blowing Shocker and Dragon Rojo tossing his mask to La Mascara. This set up a revenge match for the following week.

Show probably would have been better if the mini's match or local opener had aired. You aren't missing anything by Fredo not getting this show.

CMLL Puebla 10/25/10 (taped 10/11/10)

Tigre Rojo/Stigma vs Ares/Espiritu Maligno

- Have not been overly impressed with what I've seen from Stigma but he's young so I assume he will improve. He's certainly way ahead of most of the GDL locals making TV.
- Stigma may be able to work as 'Electro' if he ever gets called up to the main roster seeing as though he remarkably resembles Electrico.
- Nice cutoff spot as Ares spears Stigma out of nowhere!
- Not much happening in this rudo beatdown...
- WHOA WHAT A FUCKING ARMDRAG BY STIGMA! THAT'S HOW TO WIN ME OVER! Lots of rope bounces and then a 360 armdrag off the SECOND ROPE!
- DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT BODYBLOCK BY STIGMA!
- Double neato submissions for the... no wait... down to Stigma vs Espiritu! Amazing how finishes like this never even enter the minds of the wrestlers/bookers working in DF.
- After some nice nearfalls Espiritu gets the win by throwing Stigma on his face from a Splash Mountain position and then locking on a reverse Indian Deathlock! Fun short match.

Astral/Shockercito/Ultimo Dragoncito vs Bracito De Oro/Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Warrior

- Bracito may be a rudo now but he still loves whoever that is on his football jersey.
- I do not expect anything out of this match except Shockercito/Bracito feuding.
- Astral enters with a double springboard moonsault and thus I do not get the privelage of seeing him smash his head into the mat like he did in Guadalajara.:(
- Astral goes for an armdrag and Nitro tries a clothesline. Ugly.
- One more blown spot before the finish as the rudos take fall one.
- Astral climbs the ropes for a plancha in the second fall! Ultimo Dragoncito follows with a safe (by his standards) flip plancha!
- Reinera gets Bracito De Oro to submit.
- Rudos remain in control to start the third fall so Bracito can toss Shockercito around.
- Astral finds another fancy way to enter the ring without smashing his head!
- Astral moonsaults off Pequeno Nitro's back and sends him out with a rana! Then he follows with a running somersault plancha!
- Bracito low blows Shockercito for the DQ! Crowd was more into this feud than I thought they'd be.

Blue Panther/Hijo Del Fantasma/Toscano vs Vangelis/El Terrible/Misterioso II

- Terrible/Panther open with some decent matwork.
- Fantasma/Misterioso up next and I expect Misterioso to lead Fantasma through the same exchange he goes through with every CMLL tecnico.
- Yep, there it is.
- Vangelis takes a bump to the floor and Toscano follows with a simple pescado. I'm thinking after breaking his leg on a running somersault plancha and then recently taking a big fall off a springboard plancha we won't be seeing anything else out of Toscano other than a tope suicida or pescado.
- Panther tries to boost Fantasma into a rana but Terrible power bombs him and then both tecnicos are forced to give up.
- Second fall is quick as Fantasma rolls up Terrible while his partners are distracted. Vangelis is in absolute shock.
- Hijo Del Fantasma with a wild tope suicida!
- Toscano with another pescado!
- Panther tries a pescado as well but Vangelis pulls him outside only to have his head meet the ringpost soon afterwards.
- Some nearfalls and near submissions...
- Terrible ends up outside and eats a Fantasma pescado! The remaining two tecnicos put the rudos away for the win. Better than I expected.

Mistico/La Mascara/Mascara Dorada vs Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero/Mr. Niebla

- Rudos attack La Mascara during his entrance.
- Triple submission gives the first fall to the rudos.
- La Mascara takes out Ultimo with a tope suicida and Dorada almost killed Niebla with a moonsault bodyblock inside the ring as Mistico hits La Mistica to even the falls up.
- Dorada gets in exchanges with Atlantis and Niebla before bailing so La Mascara can face Ultimo Guerrero who runs away.
- Mistico does the same.
- Double running somersault planchas from Dorada and Mistico!
- La Campana wins it for La Mascara and the tecnicos! Usual post-match challenges afterwards. Highlighs at the end show a Rey Cometa asai moonsault, Fuego diving over the top onto Skandalo and Pegasso doing his Ludxor dive onto an unsuspecting Nitro except this was a REAL unsuspecting Nitro who was looking at the crowd and was shocked when Pegasso landed beside him. Oops...

CMLL @ Arena Puebla 8/14/09

This was the big 'Infierno en el Ring' show which was being built around locals vs CMLL mini's. Such a flawed concept and such a horrible build-up. 16 people were supposed to be involved but Tzuki had an 'incident' the week before so he couldn't participate. To explain how flawed this concept was... it was 5 locals vs 10 CMLL mini's. I guess you can go with the concept that 1 regular sized guy = 2 mini's but Pierrothito/Pequeno Warrior/Pequeno Nitro/Fantasy were bigger than the locals.

Metalico/Rayo Tapatio II vs Artillero/Super Comando: Metalico was a sub for an injured Rayo Tapatio I which sucked b/c I wanted to see the eternal Arena Coliseo opener.:( It also sucked b/c it meant the match was worked much slower with Metalico involved. He didn't try to do too much which is his usual downfall so I was happy with his performance. The rudos were great and carried the tecnicos through most of the match but my performer of the match goes to the gentleman sitting in the front row near the ringpost. In the third fall he JUMPED UP AND STOOD IN FRONT OF A WOMAN HOLDING HER NEWBORN BABY as Metalico did a ringpost tope suicida! Now THAT was the spot of the night!

Women: Completely average match. Lluvia just holds back this crew way too much. She was gassed after a simple one minute exchange with Amapola. Tecnicas took the match which was a waste of TV time.

La Sombra/La Mascara/Volador Jr. vs Mephisto/Terrible/Texano Jr.: By the numbers but at least an entertaining by the numbers match. Terrible/Texano crack me up with their rudo shtick. Sombra hurt himself when he botched his second rope tornillo to the floor and hit his head on the apron. Reminded me of that brutal blown spot from his second TV match with the gimmick in Arena Mexico. Rudos got DQ'ed.

Cage Match: Alright... so I already explained the flawed logic of 5 vs 10 but this got even more ridiculous when everyone entered the cage. ... PIERROTHITO ATTACKED PEQUENO WARRIOR! ELECTRICO ATTACKED PEQUENO OLIMPICO! WHY??? WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT FOR? After weeks of building this as CMLL mini's vs Puebla... in less than 10 seconds it turned into a random cage match! At least the Puebla guys seemed to grasp the concept although that may have just been b/c they were so outnumbered they never got the chance to attack each other. The usual rules were in effect so nobody could escape the cage for 5 minutes and right when that 5 minute mark hit... MASS EXODUS! People were just flying out of the cage and nobody even tried to stop them. It was such a mess. When someone would do something cool (Fantasy's finisher or Dorada taking big bumps), the camera would naturally be in the wrong spot. I WAS SO FRUSTRATED AT THIS MATCH! It only got good when it came down to four guys since Dorada had room to show off some moves including a moonsault from 3/4 up on the cage and his acrobatic escape. To put an exclamation point on how awful this was - Pierrothito blew his finishing submission spot and just had to roll Mr. Rafaga over and pin him. It looked horrible and the crowd didn't react... not that they reacted to much anyhow.

Horrible show and the main event killed the cage match gimmick in this arena much like the midcarders match a few weeks later killed the match in Arena Mexico. FWIW, they aired this show instead of the usual Monday show taped 3 days later in the same building which had:

CMLL (MON) 08/17 Arena Puebla
1) Ares & Guerrero Mantis b Black Tiger & Tigre Rojo
2) Artillero, Fuerza Chicana, Súper Comando b Centella de Oro, Delta, Diamante
3) Fabián el Gitano, Leono, Tony Rivera b Durango Kid, Escorpion, Loco Max
4) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Mictlán, SWAT, Toscano and Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Sagrado and Naito, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro
5) Último Guerrero b Héctor Garza [CMLL HEAVY]

I'm pissed we will never get to see that segunda but pretty sure this show would have been worse overall so no harm done.