CMLL Roundup: Jushin Liger wins farewell match, Rush/LA Park feud reignited, more!

Welcome to the CMLL Roundup. Let’s get caught up on the major moments from the past week. Jushin “Thunder” Liger competed in a farewell four-way bout, LA Park and Rush heated up desire for mask vs hair, King Jaguar lost his mane in hair vs hair, and there were two title defenses.

Jushin “Thunder” Liger says goodbye to CMLL

CMLL put on a special event specifically centered on Jushin “Thunder” Liger wrestling one final match for CMLL in Arena Mexico during his retirement tour. Liger was scheduled to compete in the first ever four-way contest in CMLL. His opponents were Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero, and Caristico.

The main event (starting at 2:03:38) began with festivities to honor Liger. He was presented with a special cup. Liger went to the back, so he could return with a proper wrestling entrance. CMLL put on a show with a woman playing huge drums and other ladies dressed in Liger costumes swinging glow sticks.

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Negro Casas came out first with a fireworks display. Ultimo Guerrero was next with bursts of fire, followed by Caristico with sparkler blasts. The guest of honor entered with smoke and flames. The four-way match was one fall. The rules were supposed to feature one-on-one action while two other luchadores waited on the apron, and, of course, it broke down into a free-for-all.

Liger started off with mat work against Casas. Guerrero barged in with the ultimate dickhead move by trying to rip Liger’s mask on his special day. Highlights include a suicide dive by Caristico, a flying crossbody by Liger to the outside, an extended chop fest between Guerrero and Casas, and a super powerbomb by Guerrero to Caristico.

The finish was rather sudden. Caristico attacked Guerrero with a flying crossbody off the top of the ring post to the outside. Inside the ring, Liger kicked Casas in the gut then nailed him with a sitdown powerbomb to win.

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Liger thanked the other three for their participation. Casas and Guerrero hoisted Liger up on their shoulders in a display of sportsmanship. Caristico did the same. Liger soaked it in as the show closed.

That was a solid bout, but it was more about the pomp and circumstance of Jushin Liger’s final match with CMLL. I recommend checking it out. The pre-match routine is not something you see everyday in professional wrestling.

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Match of the Week: Rush, Mistico, and La Bestia del Ring vs LA Park, Hijo de LA Park, and LA Park Jr.

The pick for ‘Match of the Week’ may not necessarily be the best bout, but it will be one I think has value and will be enjoyable if you only consume one CMLL contest from the week’s offerings. The fight between Rush, Mistico, and La Bestia del Ring against LA Park, Hijo de LA Park, and LA Park Jr. took place on July 19 from Mexico City at the Jushin Liger farewell show (starting at 1:26:04).

The crowd was hot rooting for the Parks and erupted for the first face-off between Rush and LA Park. Highlights for Fall 1 were a suicide dive by LA Park Jr., a springboard moonsault by Hijo de LA Park, and LA Park spearing Rush through the ropes onto bodies below.

The Parks won the fall via count-out. Rush won Fall 2 fairly quick with his patented running drop kick into the corner to captain LA Park.

The Muñoz family dirtied up Fall 3 with brawling around the arena. Mistico untied the mask of Hijo de LA Park and Bestia ripped the mask of LA Park Jr. A triple suicide dive from the Parks turned the tide and it was their opportunity to beat the Muñoz from pillar to post. Hijo de LA Park ripped the mask of Mistico. The high spot was an alternating exchange of German suplexes and Mexican Destroyers by Mistico and Hijo de LA Park.

For the finish, Rush kicked LA Park in the balls behind the referee’s back. Mistico did the same to Hijo de LA Park. When the ref saw both luchadores writhing in pain, he turned to the crowd to get the scoop. Rush was not pleased and shoved the ref, which caused a disqualification victory in favor of the Parks.

That was a raucous effort from all six luchadores. Give me more, please. The finishes to the falls were kind of weak, but it will be worth it if it was a set up to something grander. LA Park and Rush teased mask vs hair a few times, and the crowd went wild. I wonder if those two tried to make a statement that CMLL should fork out the bucks for that special bout. It was supposed to go down at last year’s anniversary show. Perhaps it will occur this year.

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CMLL action in the ring

Time for a two week catch up, so let’s go over some storylines and other big matches. Each day of the week sort of has its own separate world, so they will be grouped together accordingly. The shows from Monday, Tuesday, and Friday can all be viewed on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

Monday from Puebla (July 8 & 15, 2019)

El Perverso took King Jaguar’s mane in hair vs hair

On July 8, King Jaguar competed against El Perverso in a lightning match. Perverso tried the same powerbomb pin foot-on-the-ropes tactic that was successful the week prior. This time the referee noticed. However, the ref blew it on the finish. Perverso countered a roll-up to grab the ropes with his hand out of view of the ref to win the hard fought contest. Afterward, Jaguar was tired of the cheating, so he challenged Perverso to hair vs hair. Perverso accepted.

For their hair vs hair bout (starting at 1:01:10 of the July 15 show), King Jaguar came out in style with a jaguar print jacket and a jaguar tail on his butt. Jaguar won Fall 1 via standing figure four submission. Perverso won Fall 2 via arm scissor submission. It kind of looked like a figure four arm lock with his legs.

Jaguar’s bravado cost him in Fall 3. He had the win on a frog splash but pulled his opponent up before the three count. Perverso got the better of a chop exchange, then hit a back body drop, and slapped on an octopus submission to win. A terrible haircut followed.

I’m glad King Jaguar lost. In April, he punked out against Police Man in hair vs hair by lying about being kicked in the cojones. It is about time bad mojo caught up to Jaguar.

Mexican National Trios Championship defense by Los Dinamita

In front of the pipope fans, Los Ingobernables defeated Los Dinamita clean, and relatively easy, on July 8. Rush proposed a trios title opportunity. Cuatrero accepted with gusto on behalf of his squad. Both teams proceeded to brawl on the entrance ramp. Bad choice by Los Dinamita since all three had their masks ripped off.

Sanson, Cuatrero, and Forastero put their Mexican National Trios Championships on the line against Rush, La Bestia del Ring, and El Terrible (starting at 1:34:18 of the July 15 show). The champion Los Dinamita entered in their cowboy gear, while the challenging Los Ingobernables wore yellow outfits.

Fall 1 went to Los Ingobernables. Cuatrero and Forastero nailed Bestia and Terrible with slingshot flying attacks down to the floor. That left captains Sanson and Rush in the ring. Rush did his thing and pinned Sanson after a running dropkick in the corner.

Fall 2 began with brawling all over the arena. Los Ingobernables actually got the crowd to chant for Los Dinamita in a rudo vs rudo affair by trying to remove the champions’ masks. That is impressively effective heeling. Los Dinamita were dominated during that fall but ended up winning when Los Ingobernables were disqualified for tossing the referee across the ring. The ref paid that price after admonishing Los Ingobernables during a 3-on-1 beatdown.

Los Dinamita picked up momentum for Fall 3 with teamwork maneuvers. In the end, Sanson kapowed Rush with a suicide dive. Inside the ring, Cuatrero and Forastero utilized their patented catapult monkey flip to get the double pin and retain their titles. Solid victory for Los Dinamita as their 731-day reign continues.

Mexican National Welterweight Championship feud

In trios action on July 15, Negro Casas pinned Soberano Jr. with la casita after a missed flying attack. That led to a championship challenge. Soberano did not hesitate to accept. That match went down July 22. You can watch now (here), or wait for it to be covered next week in the CMLL Roundup.

Tuesday from Mexico City (July 9 & 16, 2019)

The July 9 main event (starting at 2:17:25 ) continued the feud between Dragon Lee and Cavernario in singles action. The caveman attacked Dragon Lee from behind during his entrance. Lee got zero offense in during Fall 1 as he lost on Cavernario’s springboard splash. Cavernario was in control of Fall 2 until Lee got a boot up on another Cavernario springboard splash. Lee attacked with two suicide dives then rolled him up in the ring to even the score.

Fall 3 was back and forth with big moves of a tope con hilo by Lee, a flying crossbody by Cavernario to the outside, a sitdown powerbomb by Lee, a hammerlock suplex by Cavernario, a standing Spanish Fly by Lee, a flipping DDT by Cavernario, and a Mexican Destroyer by Lee.

For the finish, the two were fighting up in the top turnbuckles. Lee knocked Cavernario down and executed a rope-hung flying double stomp. Cavernario kicked out at two. Lee followed up with a fancy sitdown suplex driver to win. The announcers referred to it as a vertical suplex transition into a powerbomb and credited Kenta Kobashi as the creator.

Check out the finisher in the highlight package interview.

In another feud to keep an eye on from July 9, rudo Polvora yanked off tecnico Blue Panther Jr.’s mask during trios action. Blue Panther Jr. deserved it, since he had been trying to rip Polvora’s mask during the bout. Polvora got on the mic to say that he has consistently demonstrated that he is better, so Blue Panther Jr. challenged him to mask vs mask. Polvora said he would love to do it, but he doesn’t want to. Rey Cometa proposed one more trios fall for all the masks and hair. That suggestion only got him beat up by Dark Magic and Kawato San of the rudo squad. We’ll see if anything comes from this in the future.

One last note from July 9. Akuma, Espiritu Negro, and Espanto Jr. officially formed a team named La Ola Negra (The Black Wave). They kind of look cool as a unit with their individual outfits blending nicely, but I wouldn’t expect big bouts any time soon.

The July 16 show didn’t have any prior stories nor create any to set up the July 23 show, which will be covered in the next CMLL Roundup.

Friday from Mexico City (July 12 & 19, 2019)

Ultimo Guerrero returned from France to continue his feud with Ciber The Main Man. They were the main event for July 12 (starting at 1:50:48 of the show). After some brawling on the floor, Ciber hit a spear in the ring to win Fall 1. More floor fighting for Fall 2 finished with an octopus submission by Guerrero to tie it up.

Near the end of Fall 3, Ciber was trying for a superplex but Guerrero turned it into a super powerbomb. Ciber amazingly kicked out at two. I thought for sure the match was over. Nope.

Ciber got screwed on the finish. He connected on a chokeslam. Kick out at two. Ciber tried to follow with a running attack, but Guerrero dodged and Ciber hit the referee instead. With the ref down, Ciber kicked Guerrero in the balls then slapped on a Boston crab submission. The referee waved it off and disqualified Ciber for the accidental contact when he ran into him. That’s some bull crap. Ciber agreed with my assessment and pushed the ref tumbling out of the ring. It looks like that funny finish will extend the feud to a possible hair vs hair down the line at a major show. Perhaps it will be a backup plan if CMLL doesn’t pull the trigger on LA Park vs Rush at this year’s anniversary show.

CMLL World Women’s Championship defense by Marcela

July 19 featured a CMLL World Women’s Championship bout (starting at 39:03 of the show). Marcela defended her title against Amapola. As far as I can tell, there was no feud story and it was just a marquee match to stack the card for Jushin Liger’s farewell. I believe the seconds were Skadi for Marcela and Ephesto for Amapola.

Amapola won Fall 1 via arm cross submission.

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Marcela came back to win Fall 2 with a flying double knee to Amapola’s stomach.

Fall 3 began with submission work then moved onto big pinning maneuvers, such as a sitdown powerbomb by Amapola, a hurricanrana pin by Marcela, and a fisherman suplex by Marcela. Amapola’s best chance at victory came after a cannonball through the ropes and a superplex, but Marcela kicked out at two. For the finish, Marcela kicked out of a cover from a spear then nailed Amapola with a Michinoku Driver to win. Her 249-day reign carries on.

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Tonight’s Super Friday show is a fresh slate of action. The card looks pretty good on paper top to bottom.

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What did you think of Jushin Liger’s farewell? On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited would you be for mask vs hair with LA Park and Rush?