This week featured Block B of the Universal Tournament, which is all I covered from this week’s show. This show had more singles matches than CMLL has in a normal week of broadcasted shows.

The undercard had some decent talent on it as well, Blue Panther continued to feud with Trump loving Sam Adonis and the continuation of the Vangellys/Pierroth feud which will have a hair vs hair match I think next week.

Who’s who?

Mistico is in his signature white mask/pants with gold trim, Ultimo Guerrero is the maskless older Latino talent with long black hair, Niebla Roja has red boots, white pants and the back of his mask is red, Mephisto is in camo pants/mask with black hanging cloth coming off the back of his mask, Ephesto has a red devil’s mask with horns and has his name on his shirt, Soberano Jr is wearing his signature blue pants/man, Diamante Azul is the stouter guy in blue with a diamond on his forehead, and lastly we have Marco the maskless jacked white dude.

How’s the match?

These seeding battle royals are always just fine, but easily skippable and you aren’t really missing anything. There is a group powerbomb on Soberano Jr. and Marco Corleone gets teamed up on, those are really the 2 moments of note in the brief match.

Who’s who?

Diamante Azul is the dude in blue mask/attire and famously won the mask vs mask match in CMLL of importance back in March when he unmasked Rush’s father Pierroth(Not the real Pierroth who wrestled ages ago or his son, Pierroth Jr. I think this current Pierroth bought the name rights from the family though).He wasn’t suppose to be in this, but was a last minute addition when Atlantis was injured. His belt actually is inactive/retired, but apparently good enough to get into the tournament.

While in the devil mask we have Ephesto 1/3rd of the Mexican National Trios, but probably the 3rd most powerful member of his stable Los Hijos del Infierno(the sons of hell).

How’s the match?

It was pretty good for a first round match. Diamante Azul is a guy who I don’t love, but he can impress with strength and the odd dive. Still, his suicide dive is awful. I’m in the camp that if you can’t do a move well, don’t do it at all. His suicide dive always feels a foot too short and makes both him and the guy receiving it look off. Ephesto didn’t really impress, but he wasn’t really supposed to. He was obvious first round fodder in this tournament and he played that role excellently making Azul look strong going into the second round.

Who’s who?

Marco Corleone is the taller/whiter guy in red briefs and kneepads. He worked briefly in the US as Mark Jindrak and recently won the CMLL Heavyweight title in a multi-man match to crown a new champion after it was vacated when the last champion was fired for vandalism… strangely the enough vandalising Marco’s opponent’s car.

Ultimo Guerrero has long black hair and is wearing black/blue pants. He has been NWA WHM Champion for a long while now winning the belt off of La Sombra before CMLL 82nd anniversary back in September 2015.

How’s the match?

Brief and mostly uneventful, we do get 2 top rope crossbodies from Marco. So that’s something to look for, but the second one costs him the match. I don’t really like that because it just logically doesn’t make much sense imo, though that might be a little nitpicky.

Who’s Who?

Mistico is in his signature white and gold trim attire and mask. His is one 3rd of Sky Team with Valiente & Volador Jr. who have been climbing the all time reign ranks of the CMLL World Trios belt, being the 2nd longest reign since

How’s the match?

Good, probably the best of all the first round matches and MOTN contender. Mistico really stole the show tonight and made a great case as to why he should be getting more singles competition, though perhaps CMLL wants to protect Sky Team as they seem to be climbing towards being the longest reigning CMLL Trio champs in the belts 24 year history. If this match isn’t MOTN, the other one would probably the second round match with Mistico.

Who’s who?

The link should start you looking at Niebla Roja in gold/white attire his boots and the back of his mask. He is currently embroiled in a feud with Ultimo Guerrero, after Niebla left Ultimo’s rudo stable Los Guerreros. He was crowned CMLL Lightweight champ after the last champion La Mascara was fired for the same vandalism mentioned earlier.

Soberano Jr. on the other hand is in the blue mask and pants and won his belt about 2 months ago off of

Rey Cometa. Soberano has been doing nothing but win. Having won both Copa de Junior and Gran Alternativa this year, 2 of CMLL’s yearly tournaments. Though one is a rookies tournament and the other is a tag tournament it’s still a really good sign CMLL see’s him as a raising stock within the company.

How’s the match?

Good, both these guys know what they are doing. Soberano Jr. continues to impress every chance he can. The biggest issue of this match is a common complaint for me with these CMLL tournament matches in that it’s shorter than I want it to be. This match could have stole the night with a few more minutes.

Who’s Who?

Covered them earlier, but for the basics Diamante is in blue with a mask while Ultimo is maskless with long black hair in black and blue pants. Both have hair their belts for a long time though Diamante Azul’s is actually inactive/none promoted by CMLL at this point he was a stand in because Atlantis was injured and couldn’t take part.

How’s the match?

Good, these two guys mesh pretty perfectly character wise. Massive tecnico Diamante Azul vs dastardly rudo leader Ultimo Guerrero writes itself. Diamante makes up for his weak suicide dive from the earlier round by having a fantastic stage dive in this match up.

Who’s who?

This is probably the most any 2 people will look alike tonight. Niebla Roja though has red books and red parts on his mask. Mistico on the other hand has gold trim and boots. Mistico is a much longer running champions, with Roja recently getting his belt from some backstage drama at CMLL that saw 2 talents getting fired.

How’s the match?

Good for the most part, Mistico continued to impress. I feel like he really wanted to show how good he was tonight so the next yearly event he’ll get even farther. Both men got some good offense in, my only real complaint : the ending was hit less perfectly than it needs to be. If Niebla is going to use the Canadian Destroyer as his finish it needs more impact than the one here did. It also came rather abruptly to Mistico mounting a comeback, though I suppose that’s the point.

Who’s who?

Niebla Roja is wearing red boots and a mask while Ultimo is maskless with long black hair. This is a continuation of the two’s feud over the last 2 months or so, when Niebla Roja left the rudo group Ultimo leads Los Guerreros Laguneros. Niebla wears a mask design that is very close to Ultimo’s old mask design which he isn’t really cool with now that they aren’t stablemates. Ultimo Guerrero has had his belt much much longer than Niebla about 2 years longer so he is definitely the favorite in this match up, he also has much more experience, being a veteran while Roja is relatively new in comparison.

How’s the match?

Good, though much more one sided than it needed to be or should have been. It’s hard to complain too much, because this isn’t the blowoff match obviously. The match was pretty much all Ultimo though with him schooling Roja throughout.

It’s almost akin to Undertaker vs CM Punk at 2009(?) HiaC. I like Undertaker so seeing him beat some young punk up is fun, but when it’s one sided and the grizzled vet looks like he hardly broke a sweat it’s not as fun as say Taker vs CM Punk WM29 where they had a much better much more competitive bout.

Still, this match does have it’s bright spots. Particularly a much better looking Canadian Destroyer out of Niebla Roja than the one he did to tend the last round over Mistico. Plus, after the match there was a promo and Ultimo vs Niebla are certain they are having a mask vs hair match. Because of that and the possibility that Roja will shave Ultimo’s head at a later date makes the one sided affair here seem like a chapter 3 downfall of Roja before being victorious later on.





Final thoughts

I think it was a pretty decent block B, in fact I’d say it was better because no one who got into the second round felt like someone who dragged their matches down… no offense to shocker last week. He can be good, he just wasn’t in Block A, probably having the worst first and worst second round matches.

I don’t really like Ultimo vs Volador Jr. in the finals. Ultimo has already won this tournament twice since it’s inception in 2009, the first and only person to win it more than once. So it just makes Volador Jr. seem like an obvious winner in the finals, which will mean Sky Team will have won twice in a row with Valiente winning last year. I think Mistico vs Volador Jr. would have been a much better choice, but you don’t always get what you want.

I’d suggest both Mistico matches if nothing else, a great performance by him in both his rounds. I’m excited to see Roja vs Ultimo, but I wasn’t impressed by either guy as much as Mistico in this show. I’m really starting top hope Pierroth gets all his sons under the Ingobernables banner soon. He already has Rush and if you added Dragon Lee and Mistico, Mexico might start having a Los Ingobernables worthy of rivaling the Japanese brand.



