mobanmarketImages: CMLL. Photography by Alexis Salazar.
A one-night women’s tournament for the Natalia Vazquez Cup was the special attraction on a Friday night lucha libre card in Arena Mexico.
Although a trios match that saw Niebla Roja once again humiliated by an unmasking was the actual main event, the women took center stage in the semi-main for the first-ever Natalia Vazquez Cup.
Having returned to Mexico since taking part in the Mae Young Classic tapings, Princesa Sugehit became the first winner of the newly established women’s tournament that honors a luchadora. The full show is available to watch below:
On the undercard, a heated lightning match between Blue Panther and Sam Adonis furthered the build for a hair match between the two as they fought their way to a time-limit draw.
The show itself opened with a contract signing that set up their hair match on August 4th. Blue Panther quickly signed the contract, but Adonis was hesitant. He teased leaving without signing as he left the ring and headed back up the entrance ramp.
Adonis, who once again wore a Love Machine mask to the ring, did eventually get back in the ring to sign the contract.
The first match on the show featured the sons of Blue Panther in a tag team match that continued a feline trend with a battle of the cat gimmicks.
Puma & Tiger defeated The Panther & Blue Panther Jr.
In the first fall, Puma gave Tiger a slingshot Alabama slam that splashed Tiger onto Panther Jr., leading to Tiger pinning him for an elimination. Puma then submitted The Panther with a modified stretch muffler that also acted as a backbreaker.
The tecnico cats made a comeback in the second fall, with Panther Jr. eliminating Tiger with a German suplex and a bridge for a pinfall. The Panther used a sunset bomb to roll up Puma for a pinfall.
The Panthers got a lot of near falls in the third fall, but the other rudo cats managed to catch their prey. Tiger pinned Panther Jr. with a sunset flip into a powerbomb for an elimination. Tiger then gave The Panther a lungblower just before Puma hit him with a missile dropkick. Tiger covered The Panther for a pinfall to win the match for the rudo cats.
Blue Panther and Sam Adonis went to a time-limit draw in a lightning match
Adonis still had on his Love Machine mask when he attacked Blue Panther on the ramp before the match. Adonis pummeled him at the start, then took a break in administering a beating to display a Blue Panther mask. He wiped his rear end with the mask and tore it up. Moments later, Panther regrouped to tear the Love Machine mask off the head of Adonis.
They fought in the ring and outside of it, taking the fight to the ramp where Adonis bodyslammed Panther on the structure. Adonis then covered Panther with the American flag that is emblazoned with a picture of Donald Trump. The crowd hated that.
Adonis took the flag and started waving it around ringside, allowing Panther time to recover. Panther surprised him and cut the flag waving short by taking him out with a tope.
Back in the ring, Adonis did three Hulk Hogan legdrops. He then climbed the turnbuckles for a frog splash. Adonis also did a tope con hilo before the fight spilled over into the first row with under a minute remaining in the ten-minute time limit. They fought in the first row as time expired, rendering the match a draw.
Regardless, they kept fighting and officials came out to separate them. Panther grabbed a microphone to cut a promo. Adonis tried to respond, but he had his microphone cut off when he cursed in Spanish.
They fought some more before being separated again by a referee. Still fired up from the melee, Panther decked the referee with a punch. Adonis fled as the two live to fight another day. They meet on August 4th in a hair match.
Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone & captain Caristico defeated Kraneo (w/ Mije), Pierroth & captain Rush
Like most matches involving Los Ingobernables lately, this started with a brawl. The rudos gained an early advantage in winning a short first fall. Kraneo hit Corleone with a hip attack, then Rush pinned Corleone to eliminate him. Kraneo assisted Pierroth by giving Azul a Michinoku Driver. That set up Pierroth landing a senton on Azul to pin him.
The father and son Ingobernable duo, along with Kraneo, continued their onslaught throughout much of the second fall. The tecnicos eventually made a comeback when Caristico took out Rush with a dive. Corleone and Azul both ran down the ramp and jumped into the ring with stereo crossbody blocks. Corleone covered Kraneo and Azul covered Pierroth for dual pinfalls to even the match.
Kraneo and Corleone did some comedy early in the third fall as Mije joined in on the act. When Caristico went for a springboard, Rush blatantly fouled him with a kick to the groin for a disqualification. Rush also unmasked Caristico to add insult to injury.
Princesa Sugehit won the Natalia Vazquez Cup in a cibernetico involving Marcela, Dalys, Estrellita, Amapola, Silueta, Zeuxis, La Vaquerita, La Comandante, Sanely, Metalica, Skadi, La Seductora, and Lady Maravilla
The 14 women began the tournament with a battle royal that determined the teams for an elimination match that followed. The match was also the debut of Lady Maravilla. Her debut was in a battle royal that seemed to last forever.
When the elimination match started, things improved greatly. The match was one-on-one in the ring with teammates able to tag in and out. Most of the women stood at ringside like it was a lumberjack match with one team member on the apron ready to tag in.
It got confusing real quick trying to keep track of the team members. The teams being a mixture of rudas and tecnicas did not help either in trying to sort it out.
For the first elimination, La Comandante pinned Skadi after a splash off the top rope.
Next eliminated was Metalica. She missed a senton off the top and La Vaquerita capitalized by giving her a double underhook piledriver before the pin.
The debuting Lady Maravilla eliminated La Seductora via pinfall after executing a northern lights suplex with a bridge.
Comandante did some power spots before getting eliminated. Dalys hit her with a senton for the pin.
Vaquerita missed a flying elbow drop, which set up her elimination. Sanely submitted Vaquerita with a hold that saw her apply a headscissors and bridge backwards.
Silueta eliminated Lady Maravilla via pinfall after giving her a valagueza (modified muscle buster).
Marcela jumped off the top with a double foot stomp on Sanely. She followed that with a Michinoku Driver to pin Sanely for an elimination.
Estrellita eliminated Silueta by pinning her with a bridging cradle.
Marcela and Estrellita then both eliminated each other. Marcela applied a Romero Special, and she transitioned into a pinning attempt. Both her and Estrellita had their shoulders down as the referee counted three.
From there, the match was down to the final four with three rudas and Sugehit remaining as the lone tecnica. All three rudas ganged up on Sugehit.
Sugehit fired up to fight them off. She then did a tilt-a-whirl headscissors into an armbar to eliminate Amapola via submission.
Zeuxis, wearing some wickedly cool gear, teamed up with Dalys to attack Sugehit. That teamwork soon dissolved as the rudas began fighting amongst themselves. Zeuxis soon eliminated Dalys with a cradle bridge.
That left feuding rivals as the final two with Sugehit squaring off with her foe, Zeuxis. They have been building a mask match between them. Though they did little to set that up, this at least continued their feud.
Sugehit submitted Zeuxis by applying a Black Widow to win the match, making Sugehit the first winner of the Natalia Vazquez Cup.
Dragon Lee, Niebla Roja & captain Volador Jr. (w/ KeMonito) defeated Gran Guerrero, Euforia & captain Ultimo Guerrero
Roja rushed to meet Los Guerreros Laguneros on the ramp to start a brawl. The other two tecnicos followed behind to join in.
Gran Guerrero ripped and tore Roja’s mask, so those two still seem headed for a singles match. That was made clearer by the actions of Gran Guerrero at the end of the match.
To end a short first fall, Los Guerreros Laguneros applied a Gory Special trifecta to submit the tecnicos.
The second fall was even shorter than the first as the tecnicos made a comeback. Dragon Lee eliminated Euforia with a Del Rio double foot stomp for a pinfall. Volador superkicked Ultimo Guerrero before using a lungblower to score a pinfall, evening the falls.
Volador got to shine early in the third fall with a flurry of offense. Gran Guerrero begged off when Niebla Roja wanted to square off with him. They eventually would meet up, with Roja tearing at Gran Guerrero’s mask for a receipt from earlier in the match.
Doing dives to the outside, Dragon Lee did a tope con hilo and Volador springboarded into a hurricanrana. Meanwhile in the ring, Niebla Roja and Gran Guerrero squared off yet again.
Leading to a disqualification, Gran Guerrero ripped off Roja’s mask and tore it to shreds. After the referee called for the DQ, a fan tossed a Dragon Lee mask to Lee himself. He gave it to Roja so he could cover his face as the tecnicos exited having won the match.