CMLL Line - 06/01/02 (SHOW NO)

Thanks to: Robert Ortega for the original format.

Vignette: Dr. Wagner looks at tonight's Arena Coliseo program, notices he's scheduled to fight Nishimura, and isn't pleased. He talks to trash to the name on the paper, and then trashes the paper

Notes: Notice who's seconding Wagner and how weird that is. Wow, commercial break after the intros, that never happens. Wagner wore his IWC Heavyweight Belt but it did not appear to be on the line. Pat both sides down for weapons, and now meeting in the middle of the ring to discuss the rules - they're treating this as a huge match. Handshake - no, Nishimura pulls his hand away. Weird that this is one fall.

Circle, look at the fans doing the Wagner pose. Looks like we missed Nishi forcing Wagner into the corner off a lockup - he gets a punch to the gut in before the break. Wagner out of the corner, lockup, armbar, twist, reversed, Wagner looks for an escape, gets a single chickenwing into an armdrag, hold on for an armbar, Nishi reverses to a leg scissors but Wagner quickly breaks. Face off. Circle. Lockup, waistlock, full nelson by Wagner. Nishi tries a standing switch but Wagner with a hammerlock and back to the full nelson. Again Nishi breaks it and goes to a waistlock, but Wagner is right behind before anything can happen - there's a hiptoss. Lockup after a pause, Wagner with a open hand slap, right form Nishi. Repeat. Looks like Wagner is getting the worse of it, but on the next exchange, Wagner catches the arm and backslides - one two no. Circle. Wagner chant from the fans. Lockup, headlock by Nishi, takedown, Wagner forms a waistlock and eventually rolls Nishi over to a pinning position one two - Nishi takes back control. Repeat. Wagner fans. Now Nishi has the headlock in a sitting position - now to his feet. Off the ropes, shoudlerblock and Wagner goes down. Headlock, takedown. Look at the fans - they seem a little concerned. Wagner getting to his feet - pushing Nishi out of the way and into the corner, charge but Nishi side steps and armdrags Wagner. Headlock on the mat. Off the ropes, over, and Wagner drop toe holds him on the second pass. Off both sets of ropes and a dropkick to the head. Armbar, running behind him to turn into a hammerlock, and now he gets confusing - we'll call it a forward hammerlock roll into a legscissors and be done with it. Masada in - Masada breaking it up. Not a DQ, somehow. Wagner isn't happy, and Shocker isn't happy either. Nishi gets the drop on Wagner in the process - forearm to the back and now he's thrown through the ropes. Forearm, head to the seat. Watch the front row fan move out of the seat just in time. Forearm. Nishi prefers the foreams to the chin. Nishi back in, but Wagner taking a breather on the outside, and maybe thinking about getting some of Masada. Now pulling himself in - but Nishi dropkicks him off the apron. Wagner doesn't really fall hard to the floor, but he is slowed. IN under the missile rope - Nishi kick to the back of the left knee, again, and now tripping him and grapevining the hurt leg. Cranking it in - and now Shocker is arguing with the ref, but nothing really comes of it. Nishi continues to try to get added leverage, but he's kinda moving Wagner closer to the ropes in the process. Masada tries yanking the ropes away to prevent Wagner from getting it, but they don't really move and it's just kinda funny looking. Ref forces a break while Shocker and Masada have more worlds. More kicks to the back of that left knee. Putting him in the corner - well, that look like a low blow kick but the ref is letting him get away with everything. Nishi yells at the fans - knee to the knee. Ditto. Triple. Grabbing the leg, tripping Wagner up, cranking the left leg enough to flip Wagner over, there's a Indian Deathlock. Just holding it in there - now here's the STF just as I say that. Wagner in a lot of pain and in the middle of the ring - Shocker yells at the ref, but Nishi breaks the facelock. Ah, he's just changing holds - Bow and Arrow! Wagner assures the ref that he doesn't want to give up yet - Nishi gets the self pinfall count for one two lets go. Nishi decides to switch it up - off the top rope with what I guess was supposed to be a knee drop to the knee, but no one's there. Wagner had managed to just roll out of the way. Or had he? I guess the camera betrayed what we were supposed to know, because everyone sells it like it connected. Eh. Figure four! Now Wagner's in the most pain he's been so far, and he's a bit away from the ropes. He is moving it, and the crowd is willing him to it. Against Masada is playing with the rope s- Shocker is over to stop him and Wagner grabs it - Nishi is forced to break. Nishi looks very confident - Sleeper! This one looks effective, but Wagner is again trying to pull from the crowd - back suplex! But Nishi is back on him - Sleeper, than an abdominal stretch. Wagner looks weak here - the fact that he can't stand on one leg is adding to the pressure. Nishi going up again - missile dropkick definitely connects this time, and Nishi is saying it's over. Nishi TOMBSTONE? No, Shocker ain't gonna let that happen, clotheslining Nishi from behind to break it up. Ref warns him - I'm amazed at what's been let go here today, but I guess it's now even. Wagner takes advantage of the momentarily distraction - Dropkick to the knee! Wagner Driver one two three! (10:41) He got beat up for 10:30, hit two moves, and won. How about that. 

Masada and Nishi start the beatdown, but Shocker's in - Masada gets beaten up. Kicks and stomps for Nishi. Here's Takemura in to even the odds - running forearm for Shocker, with some help from Asada. We could use someone to make the save here - double running shoulderblock for Shocker. Hey, it's Mascara Magica and he's clearing the ring! Mascara Magica is giving it to Masada. Shocker getting some revenge on Takemura. N Magica even lays out Nishi with some boots and kicks.  Shocker and Magica with a double dump over the top ropes for Masada. Everyone Mexican celebrates! 

Post match, Shocker (who's got bluish hair this way) challenges the Japanese: Mascara/Shocker vs Masada/Takemura, hair vs hair! The Japanese do not respond.

Vignette: Shocker and Magica hand out in front of an important type building. Is that the Palace of Fine Arts? Shocker (who's got blond hair here) talks up Magica, I think. But he needs to dress better. Magica gets bleeped. This vignette would have probably been better before the last match, but you can't have everything. 

Notes: Whoever comes out with Masada is wearing an ICP shirt, plenty disturbing. Coming out with the other team - Shockercito! Mascara Magica has Amazing Spiderman tights - see, they want to confirm he's a tecnico. Oh, this starts as a contract signing for the hair vs hair match we just set up, but it of course breaks down from there. Did Shocker kick Shockercito in the butt to get him going after intros? I think he did. I don't really feel like typing. Whoever it is with the Japon team is asked to leave as well, I think. He doesn't right away. 

The rudos wait till the official is safely away till they punk the tecnicos out - how polite. The table ominously sits in the ring, so you know some one is going to use it - triple powerbomb through the table on Magica! The table looks...very thin. Oh well. That's not a DQ, maybe because it was already there and what can you do. The referee calmly moves the metal portion table out of the ring (reattaching the gimmicked counter portion - so that's why it looked so safe) while the rudos use the wood shards (that used to be the top) on the tecnicos. Panther sets up one piece in the corner - Magica's thrown head first into it. Takemura with a weak looking table shot to the head. Masada and Panther hold it up in another corner, but get distracted by Shocker for a second. Takemura picks it up and does a much better shot. And now breaking it over his back. They cut to the other fights just as Magica looks right to blade. Yep, Takemura is rubbing the forearm into his head to spread the blood - Magica's already got half his forehead covered. Doubled dropkick to the head by Panther and Masada. Panther and Masada do the camel clutch/dropkick to the head. Shocker and Satanico try to make the have but are quickly handed. Did Panther just lick Magica's blood? EW. Magica' got a bunch of blood on him now - probably would show up better if he didn't have red tights and red hair. Takemura's cranking in the chinlock on him like it's really an effective move. Mascara's whole face has some blood on it. Panther is cranking in an abdominal stretch on Shocker - biting the ropes for extra leverage. Magica has long ago stopped putting up any defense - and suddenly the tecnico ref awards the fall to him. Eh.

Beatdown on Magica really doesn't stop there - Masada with punches to the had in the ring, Satanico and Shocker forced to the outside. Replays of the table shots. We notice that Masada looked to have gotten a low blow on Shocker, but the rudo referee didn't call anything.

By the time the second fall started, Satanico and Shocker have finnaly been able to pull Magica to safety, but the beatdown starts right back up on the non-bleeding too. Satanico makes a mini comeback but it doesn't last. Magica grabs a piece of table and pulls himself to the ring - shot on Takemura shatters the pieces and levels Takemura to the math. Comeback is started and the rudos are getting beat all over the ring. Nothing particularly interesting about the beatdown - Shocker threatens to kill the Rudo referee but is persuaded not too. Satanico goes after Panther's mask. Shocker goes after the extra guy on the outside. Panther's mask gets almost totally pulled off, but we don't get a good look at it. Shocker lays out both Masada and the extra guy. Panther gets his mask back on, but Satanico tries to pull it off again. Mascara and Shocker beat up Takemura and Masada. Panther is alone and gets beatdown. When Takemura and Masada don't come in, Magica goes out and gets Takemura. Nice team work to take him out. Masada brought in, as Takemura is kicked out. Triple Press Slam - they tease throwing him to the floor over the top (which would be a DQ) but just throw him to the mat. Satanico puts on an armbar, and Takemura is back in to break it up. All three rudos try to work on Satanico (the others having gotten on the apron for some reason), but he fights back, and Magica hits a flying cross body. Tecnicos back to beat people up - Magica with wonderful suicide somersault plancha. I should mention that by this point, not only is Magica's face totally covered, but part of his upper body. Shocker and Takemura, the captains, are left in the ring. Is that Takemura's blood or Magica's Blood? Probably his own. Exchange of strikes, no one getting anything. I'm tired of typing. Let me wait for the finish and skip to that. (Didn't really miss much here.) There's the Fireman's Carry forward drop. Shocker going up - top rope elbow drop! In a totally contrived spot, the tecnico ref is suddenly distracted, so only the rudo ref can make the count. He makes a very slow one, to give Masada time to come back in and break it up, but Magica races in to dropkick him out of the ring before he can do it, and the rudo ref has no choice but to count the three. Shocker talks post match.

Goofy finishes bugged me here, as well as suddenly a different set of DQ rules in play here -  but this was more exciting than the first match. Eh. Did a lot to build up Magica and the hair feud, though. 

Spectacular Moments - Pierrothio d. Ultimo Dragoncito. Is that Sangre Azteca? I think so. Haha, Satanico slips on the Coliseo ramp! Slow motion replays to make fun of him. Safari with a wonderful tope - I think this is the same match. Nice finish. This looked like a fun match - or at least a fun finish. Here's the double low blow of last week - it hurt, but was it worth the loss? I guess so. Volador Jr. Asai Moonsault (on Zumbido) of the week.

Vignette: At Tarzan Boy's fantastic apartment complex, GdI discuss strategy against El Santo. Tarzan Boy is late (as usual), but he's wearing an Austin 3:16 T-Shirt! It seems like the sound is a little bit off the visual here, which doesn't really help my limited ability to figure out what's going on. I guess Tarzan Boy explains he's friends with the Japanesse guys (because that's what the captian says.) Ultimo and Tarzan Boy nearly punch Rey in the face doing the fist pump, and Rey cracks up as the bit ends.

Notes: In one of those totally unsubtle foreshadowing moments, El Santo is wearing his CMLL Tag Team title belt to the ring. Casas is not. Hey, you know why this report took forever? Because I'm doing detailed coverage for every single match. (Also, not really being in to recapping this week.) No pre-match attack!

We start with Ultimo and Niebla. Niebla will do a front flip just because he can. Circling. Appealing to the crowd. Lockup, UG front facelock, Niebla armbar, UG armdrag. Into a sitting crucifix rollup - one two no. Face off. Lockup - Test Of Strength double wristlock - Ultimo falls backwards so he can monkey flip Niebla, while still holding in the double wristlock. Pinning him to the mat, no one ever counted but it doesn't last long enough to matter, Niebla rolls to his feet and finnaly the lock is broken. While still on the mat, Ultimo tries for a headscissors but Niebla pushes him off. Ultimo backward rolls to his feet, double wristlock reapplied, UG breaks one by kicking it, drop toe hold with the other wristlock still on. Holding the arm, armbar, back up, it's reversed, armdrag, now rolling and yanking it, both back it up, Niebla goes up - Mexican Armdrag! Ultimo is all the way out, and that's the end of that sequence.

Casas and Tarzan Boy in. Crowd gets on Tarzan Boy, and he and Casas discuss. Lockup, waistlock by Tarzan Boy, takedown, headlock, Casas with an armbar out, Tarzan Boy with a forward roll to reverse and an armdrag to take him down. Tarzan Boy poses - he's happy. Casas is up and reassessing. Lockup, no, Casas with kinda a choke and then an armdrag. Tarzan Boy doesn't like that one so much, and now they're exchange strikes. Casas does a really weak looking chop, and then Tarzan does an awesome looking punch to the head - from the angle, we couldn't tell if it actually hit or not, but it sure felt like it did. Corner whip, Tarzan charges in and hits the jumping forearm. Posing, and then he goes back to Casas, but Casas is ready for him - kick staggers, clothesline finishes him off. Tarzan back up - right blocked, Casas with a reverse facelock and, after a moment (Tarzan Boy tries to go down too soon - or maybe that was an attempt at a counter), a reverse DDT! Casas stands over Tarzan Boy but does not put on the La Majistral - Tarzan Boy is allowed to escape out of the ring.

Rey and Santo complete this trifecta. Crowd is behind the guy with the silver mask, that's a surprise. Crowd is maybe a little too behind him, because Santo's too busy watching them and not Rey dropkicking him. Ultimo in to help - double corner whip, corner clothesline, corner clothesline. Again, and something happens here, because Ultimo slowed down as if he was expecting the boot to the face (as the next spot), but Santo didn't do anything, and Ultimo gave him the weakest looking corner smash ever. It looked more like a quick hug. Ultimo starts to whip Santo out, but he blocks it (again, oddness) and then we get the boot to Ultimo. Charge to Rey, and a bodyscissors leads to the allows nice armdrag/headscissors two man take out. Santo off the ropes, under the double clotheslines, Ultimo flips him high and of course Santo's hitting the 'rana on Rey. Santo pushes off the ropes again, Ultimo goes for the tilt-a-whirl back breaker but it turns into a wacky tilt-a-whirl armdrag and both Rey and Ultimo are out of the ring. Santo Bullet Tope On Rey! He really nailed him, too - head to head damage. Quick replay of that wacky armdrag, and then...

Ultimo and Tarzan Boy have a double whip for Niebla. Ultimo charges in and eats boot. Niebla charges out and Ultimo monkey flips him - right into a clothesline on Tarzan Boy. Neblina on Tarzan Boy is quickly applied, and it sounds like the Casas Special is happening just off camera on Ultimo - yep, it is. Santo crawls back in to celebrate. Replays, and a break.

GdI do the circle dance outside the ring to get themselves back together. Neibla does the Niebla Dance for Ultimo - Ultimo hits a running back elbow to stop that. Chop in the corner. Chop. Corner whip, charge into a double boot. Niebla charges out into the monkey flip (again) but lands on his feet. Niebla waves Ultimo bay as he charges - armdrag. Niebla off the ropes and charging at Ultimo, who's near the other set of ropes. Ultimo tries to backdrop Niebla to the floor, but Niebla changes his momentum and his backside bounces off the top rope - on the rebound, he armdrags Ultimo the mat. Looked awesome, and Ultimo slides out. 

Tarzan Boy is in quick to take his partner's place - open hand slap. Corner whip, reversed, Niebla flipped to the apron on his charge, but he climbs up and hits the Antifaz top rope release Victory Roll. Tarzan Boy out, but Niebla chases after him. He does that flip over the ropes and to the apron that Safari does but it never looks right - doesn't look good here either, and leaves Niebla open to a running boot from Rey. Rey charges at Niebla on the apron, but gets monkey flipped - over the corner post and all the way to the floor. Very dangerous.

Niebla back in and celebrating - Tarzan Boy tries to jump him with a springboard dropkick to the back, but he trips on the way up and falls in the ring. Niebla (and most everyone else) laughs at Tarzan Boy's misfortune. He elects to rollout and check to make sure everything is in working order. Replay reveals that he might have twisted (or worse) an ankle, so now I feel sorta bad about laughing. Some stalling in the ring while everything gets sorted out. Tarzan Boy seems okay - he'd be happy to resume but it looks as though we've moved on.

Ultimo and Casas are in - test of strength? No, Ultimo's gonna sneak in a headbutt. Three open hand slaps and a hiptoss. Hard slaps to the face! Ultimo goes to pick up Casas, but Casas pushes him in the corner and hits hard chops of his own. Now Casas with punches and kicks - and a double standing armbar. Rey into break it up, and Santo is into get a piece of him, so Tarzan Boy is in - Ultimo smart enough to nail Niebla before HE can come in. Double whip, double boot for Santo and he's thrown out. All three pull Casas in the middle of the ring and take turns with open hand slaps. Casas manages a headbutt on Tarzan Boy, so Ultimo and Rey give him a double headbutt to slow him down. Double armbar, double twist, double kick to the midsection, double kicks to the back of the knee - triple dropkick to the head! Well, I don't think all of them hit but the effort was there.

Casas out, Niebla in. Triple whip, double spinebuster. Tarzan Boy and Rey literally roll him into the corner (using a double rolling kneebar), and hold his legs open so Ultimo can hit a high butt splash to the midsection. Niebla out.

Santo in - triple whip, triple boot. Rey picks him up for the Gory special - double running bulldog to take him off it! Triple...um, face first cross arm suplex? Don't even know where to start with that one. Triple Pose on Santo's carcass and they're given the win. Announcers sell it like Santo might really be dead - that was a killer looking move. Replay.

Third fall, but the tecnicos are all out of the ring recovering. Who will come in first? Tarzan Boy taunts the crowd as Rey goes out to beat up Santo a little but. Looks like Niebla is the sacrificial lamb. He's laid across the top rope, stomach facing down, so Tarzan Boy can do a running axhandle with a little boot from Ultimo. And Niebla out of the ring.

Casas is in next - Ultimo is going to set him up just like Niebla was, and this time it's Rey who gets to deliver the high double axhandle. Casas doesn't roll out right away, but Santo is in anyway - he's stopped with kicks and such, and Ultimo sets him up too. I takes forever for the other two to get in position and you can tell Santo's getting ready to move - yep, Tarzan Boy hits nothing but the buckle. Chops are wild as the tecnicos start their comeback. Rey gets laid out on the outside by Santo. Did Ultimo's mask get pulled there? It's defiantly untied, and Snato was trying to kick it loose.  Now Casas is kicking him in the chest - I guess his partners made it to the corner.

We've settled back down into a normal match - Rey and Niebla. Rey with an open hand slap, open hand slap. Niebla dance. Rey does the Niebla dance! Rey off the ropes, under, into a monkey flip that takes him to the floor. Ultimo tries to jump Niebla but He moves out of the way of the senton. Niebla off the far ropes, handspring back elbow but Ultimo pushes him up and over, so Niebla's heading out of the ring. What's supposed to happen here is that Niebla gracefully turns this into an Asai moonsault, and let me tell you, he did his part. The other part of the equation was "Rey catches him" and that's where it kinda fell apart. One of Niebla's arms clubs Rey in the face on the way down, which causes Rey to get knocked back and out of place. Niebla does bump into Rey, and that causes him to keep turning and land chest first - otherwise, he would have been right on his head. Niebla gathers his breath, checks to see if Rey's okay and probably thinks how lucky he is on the floor.

Back in the ring, Casas is trying the dropkick to the knee on Ultimo but Ultimo sidesteps. Tarzan is in and holding Casas, but Casas of course gets free when Ultimo tries to dropkick him, and Tarzan Boy eats it. Casas grabs Ultimo in the double chicken wing and lays down on the mat, as Santo goes to the top - and there's the flying senton into a running tope on Tarzan Boy! 

Back in the ring, Ultimo is off the ropes, and Casas catches him in a spinebuster. In a brilliant move, Ultimo tosses his loose mask while still in mid air, to give the impression that Casas knocked off with the impact of the move. Ultimo covers his face, the refs come in, put two and two together, and DQ Casas for pulling the mask. Casas is behind himself, as a replay shows what really happened. 

Tarzan helps retie the mask - on the floor, Niebla is being examined by the doctors on the floor - he may have a broken rib, I'd suspect. He's quickly stretched and taken out of the building, with the speed that's not usually seen on fake injuries. Replay - Niebla is still pretty lucky. Santo's senton into a tope isn't as crisp as normal, but he was trying not to kill Niebla.

Post match, Casas is unhappy. Santo isn't really thrilled either. Santo challenges for a mask vs mask against Ultimo, but he ain't having it. Santo reaffirms - he wants mask, he wants hair, he wants some revenge. Doesn't look like he's getting it this week.

Next Week: Santo, Tarzan Boy, Negro Casas, Shocker, Takemura, Ultimo Guerrero, Felino, Apolo Dantes, Rey Buccanero, Masada, Fuerza Guerrera and much more.

Rating: Bases on the quality of the finish, ring work, internal/external storyline, consistency and my whims. Also, various other (random) factors that I can't think of right now. 0-100 for matches.

Closing Notes: 

1. Every match over ten minutes, when does that happen?
2. This sure felt like a hype show.
3. It helps that I knew it was a hype show.
4. I think I underrate matches where someone gets hurt, just because I'm all the more conscious that it should've been a better match and there was a lot of room for improvement.
5. Still, I won't complain about a show like this. Best all around of the year, probably.