CMLL Luche Libre Report
Bruce Onder
[Note: Dave Fields is experiencing some problems with his Univac
computer, so I agreed to post this for him. Enjoy, and remember:
Hoy gran lucha!
Bruce]
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News and Popularity Ratings for week ending 11/10/91
News: Nothing in particular, but while channel hopping last Friday
night, my wife came upon wrestling on Galavision, so she shouted out to
me in the next room, "Hey, there's wrestling on channel 22!" Sure
enough, it was CMLL lucha libre, but from last year. Turned out to be
an interview program. They were interviewing Cien Caras (Carmelo
Reyes). Interviewers were the usual crowd of CMLL announcers: Dr.
Alfonso Morales, Arturo Rivera, Miguel "Mickey" Llinares, and Raul
Sarmiento.
The match they showed was last year's set up for the feud between El
Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. and Cien Caras leading up to the mask vs. mask
match in whick Cien Caras lost his mask. As a minor sidebar, it was
also the match where Conan set up a brief heel turn by refusing to tag
in to his partners who were getting wiped by Los Hermanos Dinamitas (he
went back to facehood the next week). The teams: Conan, Ringo Mendoza,
and El Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. Los Hermanos Dinamitas (Cien Caras,
Mascara An~o 2000, and Universo 2000). Victors were Los Hermanos
Dinamitas in straight falls.
Curious to see Conan and Cien Caras in masks again.
I'll check to see if this is a regular feature or a "one off" as they
say in the UK. The name of the show is "Aqui Esta" (Here It is), and it
shows every week night at 11:00 PM Western on Galavision.
Popularity ratings:
Heels: Faces:
------ ------
1 - Pierroth, Jr. 1 - Octagon
2 - Cien Caras 2 - Atlantis
3 - Fuerza Guerrera 3 - Conan
4 - Mascara An~o 2000 4 - El Rayo de Jalisco, Jr.
5 - Javier Cruz 5 - El Vampiro Canadiense (Casanova)
The card this week was the first round of a tournament to determine the
CMLL 6-man tag team champions (Campeon de Trios in their terminology).
I was surprised by the absence of norteamericanos (Conan is the
Cuban-American Carlos Santiago Espata from Florida, but the Mexican
fans consider him one of their own).
The matches were held in Arena Mexico, Mexico City D.F. (the fancy
arena).
The order of competition was determined by a captains' battle royal in
which the order of elimination determined the matchups.
In that match, the order of elimination, from first ousted to last
was:
1 - Ringo Mendoza
2 - Octagon
3 - El Rayo de Jalisco, Jr.
4 - El Satanico
5 - Brazo de Oro
6 - Cien Caras
Atlantis and Pierroth, Jr. survived the elimination, so their teams
went last in the tourney.
For the first round of eliminations, the matches were one fall only.
I didn't jot down the names of the referees.
First Match: Perro Aguayo, Cachorro Mendoza, and Ringo Mendoza (faces)
vs. Octagon, El Dandy, and Conan (faces). Octagon's team wins. *** 1/2
The highlight of this match for me was the red-haired babe in the One
Million Years B.C. costume who escorted some of the wrestlers to the
ring. For others, it would probably be the big blonde (imagine Jeannie
Clark aka Lady Blossom in a white bikini and you'll get the idea). The
same group of babes escorted the wrestlers for every match, but most of
them changed costumes each time. This kind of thing is always one of
the highlights of matches held at Arena Mexico :-)
Perro Aguayo and Conan have been feuding for quite some time, so it was
no surprise that they went at it hot and heavy just as soon as the ring
announcements were made. Both men had to be restrained by their
respective tag team partners :-) BTW, Perro Aguayo has cut his formerly
long hair short, and his forehead rivals Dusty Rhodes and Carlos Colon
for scar tissue (couldn't really see it that well before).
Dandy and Ringo trade arm drag takedowns and exit. Octagon puts a big
cross body press attempt on Perro from the top turnbuckle, but doesn't
get the pin. He then delivers a big super kick from the top and
leaves.
Ringo throws Conan twice and gets a body slam in return. Conan rings
Mendoza's arm and Dandy double ax handles it from the top turnbuckle.
Dandy tags in, wrings the arm, and Conan does the same maneuver. Perro
Aguayo tags in and clotheslines Conan, receives a back body drop, and
then two clotheslines in return. For a topper, Conan executes a great
spinning side kick on Perro, knocking him out of the ring.
Octagon drop kicks, flying head butts, drop kicks, misses a drop kick,
and then takes a drop kick from Ringo Mendoza. Perro Aguayo kicks Conan
out, then misses a plancha attempt and hits Cachorro by mistake. Ringo
quickly works a pin on Octagon, but Conan sneaks in and does a screw
job pin on Ringo as Octagon sneaks out.
Second Match: Los Infernales (Satanico, MS-1, and Pirata Morgan)
(heels) vs. El Rayo de Jalisco, Jr., El Justiciero, and Apolo Dantes
(faces). Los Infernales win. ***
It looks like Pirata has replaced Masakre as the third Infernale. Seems
kind of strange to see him in a supporting role.
The match opens with a brawl, Satanico posting Justiciero and all 3
heels ganging up on El Rayo, then pounding Apolo and Justiciero again.
Justiciero is dragged to the heel corner and trashed. El Rayo spars off
with Satanico briefly, then all 3 heels come in again. At this, the
other 2 faces enter and clean up on the rudos. Apolo and El Rayo double
clothesline Satanico, then El Rayo leg drops him. MS-1 takes a high
back body drop from Justiciero.
El Rayo tilt-a-whirls Pirata Morgan and throws him out of the ring. In
a comedy of errors, Justiciero trashes all 3 rudos. As a result of the
errors (rudo being faked into punching, kicking, etc. rudo), a minor
tiff breaks out among the heels, but MS-1 straightens things out. El
Rayo engages the 3 rudos in yet another comedy of errors and considers
(but rejects) a plancha dive onto the arena floor from the top
turnbuckle. Apolo knee lifts and drop kicks MS-1, then takes on all
three rudos in succession. While El Rayo finally executes his plancha
dive from the top turnbuckle onto MS-1 on the arena floor, Pirata
Morgan pins Apolo Dantes.
Third Match: Los Brazos (Brazo, Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata) (heels)
vs. Los Hermanos Dinamitas (The Dynamite Brothers - Cien Caras, Mascara
An~o 2000, Universo 2000) (heels). Los Brazos win. *** 1/2 for heat
only. Little work.
An interesting matchup. Both teams, though nominally heels, are big
favorites with the fans. Both teams are also brothers, the Alvarado
brothers (Brazos) vs. the Reyes brothers (Dynamites - Mascara An~o
2000 and Universo 2000 are both masked, but both are also known to be
legitimate brothers of Cien Caras: Carmelo Reyes). The bigger favorites
are Los Brazos because of Brazo de Plata (El Super Porky), and the fans
chose to support them for this match.
Brazo opens vs. Universo to great heat and almost no work. The crowd
chants: Porky! Porky! Porky! Mascara tags in versus Oro, again with
great heat and little work. Cien Caras takes on Brazo de Plata, and all
3 Reyes brothers gang up on Super Porky, then on Brazo de Oro.
The Reyes brothers do a comedy routine kicking and slugging one another
while trying to nail Brazo de Oro. El Brazo enters and takes on
Universo 2000 followed by more comedy. Oro tilt-a-whirls Mascara, and
there is a near 3-pin by the Alvarados followed by an equally near
3-pin by the Reyes. Finally, Super Porky 747s all 3 Reyes brothers for
the (1-on-3) pin.
Fourth Match: Blue Panther, Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, and Pierroth, Jr.
(heels) vs. Angel Azteca, Super Astro, and Atlantis. Angel Azteca,
Super Astro, and Atlantis win. **** for the best match of the card. To
be expected with these guys.
Super Astro and Blue Panther open with an uncharacteristic bunch of mat
work. The Aztec Angel arm drags Fuerza Guerrera out of the ring, then
also engages in a great deal of mat work with the little Warrior
Force.
Atlantis drop kicks Pierroth, then misses and gets slammed into the
corner turnbuckle. Atlantis recovers and does a spectacular upside down
head scissors throw and tosses Pierroth out of the ring. Super Astro
shakes up the crowd with some fancy acrobatics against Blue Panther.
Fuerza does nothing with the Angel, then there's more acrobatics from
Super Astro and Blue Panther.
Atlantis takes Blue Panther down with a flying head scissors, then
tilt-a-whirls him, followed by a spectacular kicking takedown. Fuerza
and the Angel trade hard throws. Pierroth clotheslines and reverse
chops Atlantis. Atlantis reverses and does exactly the same moves on
Pierroth. Blue Panther clotheslines the Angel, but the Angel comes back
with an incredible flying throw. Atlantis catapults and tilt-a-whirls
Fuerza. Blue Panther power bombs Super Astro, then slams him. Pierroth
delivers a high back body drop to Super Astro, then the Angel and
Pierroth trade take downs.
Fuerza Guerrera delivers a big drop kick to Atlantis, then takes a
power bomb and refuses to submit to a half crab. Super Astro does a
super kick and suplex on Blue Panther followed by a very fancy sunset
flip pin attempt. Pierroth slams the Angel, but Atlantis breaks up the
pin and nearly pins Pierroth himself. Atlantis power bombs, then camel
clutches Pierroth, who manages to escape to the arena floor.
Super Astro super kicks Blue Panther and then takes him to the mat.
Blue Panther lifts Super Astro to his back and does one of those Mike
Rotunda back body slam finishing maneuvers. Angel Azteca is slammed
hard by Blue Panther and then by Fuerza Guerrera, who misses a plancha
attempt badly. Pin attempts are reversed by both sides. Pierroth slams
the Angel, then misses a plancha and submits to the Aztec Angel's
surfboard.
Surviving teams for the next round of the tournament:
Octagon (captain), El Dandy, Conan (faces)
Satanico (captain), MS-1, Pirata Morgan (heels)
Brazo de Oro (captain), Brazo, Brazo de Plata ("heels")
Atlantis (captain), Angel Azteca, Super Astro (faces)
Dave Fields | tdat!d...@suntzu.sun.com
Teradata Corporation | d...@tdat.teradata.com
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--
Bruce W. Onder on...@isi.edu
Is this wretched demi-bee
Half-asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric the half-a-bee!