CMLL Roundup: Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero to Increible de Parejas finale, hair vs hair, samurai swords

Welcome to the CMLL Roundup. Let’s get caught up on all the news and action from the past week. The Torneo Increible de Parejas was again the feature event of the week. In other CMLL action, a hair vs hair bout was set up for Monday, April 22. There was also a luchador with samurai swords. Rey Samuray showed cool skills in the ring to match the coolness of his steel.

Stage one of the Torneo Increible de Parejas 2019

The tournament of incredible pairs, mixing tecnicos with rudos, continued on Friday’s (April 19) show from Arena Mexico in Mexico City. To refresh your memory from stage one last week, here is that bracket.

The teams for stage two were as follows: Mistico & Cuatrero, Rush & Vangellys, Atlantis & Negro Casas. Hechicero & Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero, El Terrible & Niebla Roja, El Valiente & Gran Guerrero, and Templario & El Audaz.

You can watch the entire show on CMLL’s YouTube channel. The tournament portion this week is about fifty-four minutes long, beginning at the 1:23:00 mark.

Stage two started with a battle royal to determine the matchups. This time it was the rudos in the ring. The participants were Templario, Hechicero, Cuatrero, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero, El Terrible, and Vangellys. The bout lasted about four minutes.

The elimination order was:

• 1. Hechicero (by Cuatrero)
• 2. Cuatrero (by Gran Guerrero)
• 3. Templario (by El Terrible)
• 4. Negro Casas (by Ultimo Guerrero)
• 5. Ultimo Guerrero (by Vangellys)
• 6. El Terrible (by Vangellys)
• 7. Gran Guerrero (self-elimination to save energy)
• Winner: Vangellys

The first round bouts were all about five minutes each in duration, not including entrance time. Both partners must be eliminated. Let’s hit these rapid fire.

Hechicero & Stuka Jr. vs Mistico & Cuatrero

Stuka Jr. ripped Mistico’s mask. That was not very tecnico like from Stuka. The move of the match was a hammerlock swinging backbreaker by Hechicero. Mistico and Cuatrero got their asses kicked until Cuatrero hit a sitdown powerbomb on Stuka and Mistico did his whirling armbreaker on Hechicero for the win.

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Templario & El Audaz vs Atlantis & Negro Casas

Templario and El Audaz had matching gear that was vertically split down the middle fifty-fifty for each man’s colors. Let’s see if that is a sign they will get to the stage two finals, like last week’s teams with coordinated gear.

The move of the match was Templario doing a handspring into the ropes to bounce back for a moonsault. For the finish, Atlantis hit each opponent with a whirling backbreaker, then Atlantis and Negro Casas wrapped them up in simultaneous casita cradles to win.

So much for that matching gear theory.

Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero vs El Terrible & Niebla Roja

Bitter rivals El Terrible and Niebla Roja were stink eyeing each other on the walk to the ring. Niebla channeled his inner Ingobernable by using his sword to gut punch Volador and also whip both of his opponents with a belt.

The move of the match was a tope con hilo by Volador Jr. For the finish, Niebla had a submission on Volador when Terrible walked up to punch his own partner in the face. Niebla and Terrible got into it, then both were rolled up from behind.

El Valiente & Gran Guerrero vs Rush & Vangellys

The move of the match was a seventy-two chop exchange between Gran Guerrero and Vangellys. Those big guys throwing chops like that gets me all frothy. El Valiente was pinned by Rush after a running dropkick in the corner. Vangellys pinned Gran Guerrero off a tackle slam.

The stage two semis were just as brief as the previous four bouts.

Mistico & Cuatrero vs Atlantis & Negro Casas

Go, old guys, go! Atlantis is a four-time winner of the Torneo Increible de Parejas. If anyone can pull it off, he can. The move of the match was a monkey flip by Atlantis to send Cuatrero over the ropes and out of the ring. The young guys were too much though. Mistico pinned Negro Casas with la casita, while Cuatrero submitted Atlantis on an inverted bear hug. Shucks. Bye, bye, old guys.

Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero vs Rush & Vangellys

All four began fighting on the ramp before the opening bell. The moment of the match was Vangellys falling over when trying to set up the big swing into a dropkick, one of the patented Ingobernables moves. Rush didn’t cut Vangellys any slack by pointing at him as the announcers laughed.

Ultimo Guerrero hit a front super slam on Vangellys. As Guerrero was making his cover, Rush ran over to dropkick the referee. Hahahaha. Rush left before he could be disqualified.

The stage two final was about eight minutes long.

Mistico & Cuatrero vs Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero

This bout was fast-paced and the best by far of stage two. Mistico and Cuatrero brought the ruckus with tandem topes con hilo. Mistico went loco with a flying crossbody off the upper stage.

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Ultimo Guerrero countered Mistico into a front super slam, but Mistico kicked out. Ultimo Guerrero countered a super hurricanrana by Mistico into super powerbomb, but Mistico kicked out again. Mistico hit a Frankensteiner and this time Ultimo Guerrero kicked out. Volador Jr. and Cuatrero traded kickouts, but the moves were less impressive.

For the finish, Volador connected on a sunset flip piledriver and Ultimo Guerrero hit a super inverted suplex for the double pin win.

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That sets up the grand finale to the Torneo Increible de Parejas 2019 between Volador Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero and Titan & Barbaro Cavernario on Friday, April 26.

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Volador is a two-time winner, and Cavernario did it once. Funny enough, those two did it together as a team in 2017. I’d think Volador and Guerrero are heavy favorites, but anything can happen. That’s why they play the game.

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CMLL’s week in the ring

This week’s focus was on stage two of the Torneo Increible de Parejas, so I didn’t fully watch other matches from last week. Let’s hit the story points that did occur.

Monday from Puebla (Apr. 15, 2019)

After being taken down due to a copyright claim, the full show is currently available for your viewing pleasure on CMLL’s YouTube channel. It was stacked with story material.

Samurai swords

Yo! Hold up. I may have found a new favorite luchador. A dude named Rey Samuray came to the ring with two swords, and his mask has a long braided ponytail. I love swords, so sign me up to hop aboard the Rey Samuray fan wagon.

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Carrying swords is one heck of a way to stand out. I didn’t plan on watching the opening match, but let’s see what Rey Samuray has to offer.

Despite Samuray’s team losing the trios bout, he stood out nicely. Samuray opened with some mat work and later hit an amazing maneuver. Samuray ran down the entrance ramp for a step-up 450 splash over the ropes. That display of awesomeness scored a pin in Fall 1. In Fall 2, he connected on a springboard headscissors takeover but missed on a springboard moonsault to the outside. He didn’t botch it or anything like that. His opponent just moved out of the way as planned.

Color me intrigued after watching Rey Samuray for the first time. I’m definitely keeping an eye out for more of him. Lucha Wiki lists his age as 24 years old, so Samuray has plenty of time ahead to build a name for himself. Those swords will help.

Champ vs Champ challenge

The women of CMLL had a trios bout resulting in a lightning match for Marcela and Metalica on Monday, April 22. Marcela is world champ, and Metalica is national champ. After pinning Marcela in the trios match, Metalica demanded a title shot. Marcela was up for the idea but wanted Metalica to prove herself first. It will be champ vs champ but neither belt on the line, yet.

Hair vs Hair challenge

In other undercard action, a hair vs hair lucha between King Jaguar and Police Man was set for Monday, April 22. Police Man had it out for King Jaguar right from the beginning. I’m not sure why. Was King Jaguar selling jaguars on the black market and Police Man was out to enforce the law the only way he knows how?

Police Man focused all his offense on King Jaguar during their trios match. Jaguar was bloodied up from either his mouth or nose. Police Man pinned Jaguar in Fall 1 off a flying senton. Just when Jaguar was picking up momentum in Fall 2, Police Man issued a low blow behind the referee’s back and pinned Jaguar for a second time.

After the match, King Jaguar took the mic to request that Police Man confess his cheating ways. Jaguar then challenged hair vs hair. Police Man accepted but not before a scathing verbal beatdown. Police Man called Jaguar past his prime and a loser; always been a loser.

They did a good job of getting me excited for that hair vs hair bout. The two luchadores were pretty physical, so I’m looking forward to seeing them throw down in high stakes singles action. I’m not sure who is going to win. Police Man claimed he is more man than Jaguar, so he better back his words up. On the other hand, Jaguar needs to defend his own honor. If he is defeated after being called a loser, then he might as well retire.

Heavyweight Championship defense

In the main event, Ultimo Guerrero put his Heavyweight Championship on the line against El Valiente. It was supposed to be a tag team title bout, but Valiente got the singles shot after Diamante Azul was injured last week.

Valiente took the lead earlier after winning Fall 1 on a knee stretch submission. Ultimo Guerrero fought back with an octopus submission in Fall 2. Fall 3 came down to a reverse slam out of the corner by Ultimo Guerrero to retain his gold. I zipped through this one, but the parts I saw looked pretty entertaining.

Tuesday from Mexico City (Apr. 16, 2019)

In the main event (full show), Ultimo Guerrero, Negro Casas, & Mr. Niebla defeated the team of Caristico, Mistico, & Titan. Ultimo Guerrero had the winning pin after ripping off Caristico’s mask. The referee didn’t see it and counted to three on the cover by Guerrero.

There were no storylines, but there was a lightning match. This one was a pretty good bout.

Lightning Match: Flyer vs Templario

The match (starting at 1:00:40) took about two minutes to warm up then Flyer exploded on a powerslam. Highlights include a rope walking missile dropkick by Templario, a tope con hilo by Flyer, a springboard moonsault by Flyer to the outside, a handspring moonsault by Templario then another one over the ropes back into the ring. For the finish, Templario used a Mexican Destroyer for victory at the 7:01 mark of the ten minute time limit.

Friday from Mexico City (Apr. 19, 2019)

This show was all about the Torneo Increible de Parejas, but there is always time for a lightning match.

Lightning Match: Rey Cometa vs Kawato San

Chain wrestling to start the lightning match (at 48:40) then Rey Cometa nailed Kawato San with a suicide dive within the first minute. Highlights include a twisting crossbody by Cometa and a tope con hilo by Kawato. For the finish, Cometa connected on a sitdown powerbomb then a 450 splash at 4:02 into the bout.

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The Torneo Increible de Parejas alone would have made it a good week of CMLL action. However, all the escapades in Puebla on Monday made it more important than usual. It looks like they wanted to put a special show tonight for Easter week. Hair vs hair and champ vs champ make the lower card bouts must-see.

My pick of the week is the Torneo Increible de Parejas stage two final. I don’t know if watching just that match will have the same effect without watching the tournament, but give it a try anyway. The lightning match between Flyer and Templario is also enjoyable.

Do you think it will be Jaguar King or Police Man who is shaved bald? Who are you picking to win the Torneo Increible de Parejas on Friday?