[2000-01-18-CMLL] Zumbido & Rencor Latino & Arkangel de la Muerte vs Ringo Mendoza & Tigre Blanco & Pantera

[soup23]

One of those "what everyone else is doing" tags but a fan way to see how well the roster was constructed in CMLL at this point and why so far, it is easily my favorite promotion in January 2000. Nothing here was offensive at all and everyone got a chance to shine when needed. In some ways this is the perfect comparison to Kidman vs. Psicosis from a few days earlier of a tv action packed match. **3/4

[Grimmas]

This was a fun little spotfest with everyone looking good, including Ringo Mendoza who I really dug as an old man luchador. Just a bunch of fun, but really nothing special to go out of your way to see.

 

** 1/2

[Loss]

This was short but full of life and excitement. Zumbido continues to impress and I hope a real showcase match for him is on the horizon. Pantera was awesome too. I thought this was a fantastic combination of highspots and character work. Short, hot TV match that was everything it needed to be, although I think a longer match would yield better results. ***

[Tim Evans]

Good opening type tv match that would air on these CMLL shows rarely. The main feud seemed to be Arkangel vs Tigre Blanco which seems like a interesting feud. Nice to see a young Rencor Latino before he became a big star as Averno a year later. Nothing to write home about but I'm a big Ringo Mendoza mark so it was nice to see him. He was like a Mexican version of King Cobra from Memphis. Stuck around forever and always looked old but could go.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a fun undercard match. You know CMLL is humming when the undercard is good. Arkangel de la Muerte is a favourite of the Segunda Caida crew. I've never really viewed him as an elite-level talent but he does have a lot of nice looking offense and I was impressed with his stooging here. He made Tigre Blanco look like a million bucks during the finish, and let's face it, Tigre Blanco wasn't the most outstanding tecnico on the CMLL roster. The most impressive tecnico was Pantera, who contributed a beautiful dive. I couldn't believe that Ringo was still kicking about in Jan 2000. Very Gran Hamada-esque of him. The match was clipped like all of the January TV has been, but it purred nicely.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Average match. Building up Tigre Blanco and Arkangel de la Muete seemed to be the focus of the match. Nothing really stood out good or bad except for a sloppy dive by El Pantera that overshot his opponent.

[Sean Liska]

The thing I'm most excited about with this project is being able to dig into a period of CMLL that I'm not familiar with. I don't know a lot of these guys, but this is a perfectly fun undercard match. Are these guys prelim guys or could they be inserted into semi-main events? I guess I'll find out as the year goes on. Here's a random observation - Ringo Mendoza feels like a lucha Hiroshi Wajima to me physically. I dig Wajima so that's not a bad thing. Good little match.