Lucha Azteca7 Elite: 2016-10-22

Recapped: 11/07/16

What happened:  Carístico won a cage match with LA Park, though mostly only because LA Park helped him out of the cage after Rey Escorpión earlier stoppped Park from leaving. Earlier, Rey Escorpión beat Blue Demon with a mask pull

What was good:  The semimain tercera was great, and the cage match was fun until the usual Elite booking kicked in at the end. Arena Lopez Mateos looked good on this TV show and the crowd was very into the show.

Where can I watch it:  It’s on the Liga Elite YouTube channel complete

Match 1: El Bandido & Golden Magic vs Argos & Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.
Arena Lopez Mateos, 10/21/2016
Video: thecubsfan, Liga Elite, R de Rudo

1. rudos
   • Hijo del Dr. Wagner superplex Bandido (2:42)
   • Argos backcracker Golden Magic (3:21)
2. técnicos
   • Golden Magic guillotine legdrop + back bridge Argos (2:5)
   • Bandido torito Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. (2:07)
3. técnicos
   • Golden Magic 450 splash Dr. Wagner Jr. (6:08)
   • Argos top rope gutwrench suplex Bandido (8:05)
   • Golden Magic inverted huracanrana (8:27)

Winner: técnicos (2/3)
Match Time: 13:44
Notes: The third fall is confusing: Golden Magic pinning Wagner is missed due to replays and the ring announcer believes the match is over after Bandido is pinned. The wrestlers aren’t affected much.

Review: [ok] Argos is the worst. It’s not even when he’s doing moves – all Argos is really interested is doing moves, wrestling like an entitled eight year old – but it’s when he’s aimless laying in the ring and getting in the way like on the big ramp spot. It’s when he’s failing to Bandido’s dive, making no real effort. It’d at least be fun if Argos embraced his own nonsense – instead of pointlessly doing two big moves to finish Golden Magic, maybe he could do eight – but Argos seems to have no clue that he’s not any good and no one willing to tell him, at least among people he’d listen to. I keep saying Elite needs better rudos, but maybe they really just need specific rudos not to be around. Everyone else was fine.

Match 2: Blue Demon Jr. vs Rey Escorpión in a Liga Elite match
Arena Lopez Mateos, 10/21/2016
Video: Liga Elite, R de Rudo

Winner: Rey Escorpión
Match Time: 6:02
Notes: Escorpión pulled Demon’s mask to win.

Review: [ok] It could’ve be worse! Blue Demon is still a remarkable cold character, but he was willing to do a few things and yet the match still didn’t go long. Rey Escorpión winning with a mask pull is about as clean a win as he can hope to get, and Blue Demon not getting a visual pinfall before it is a definite upset. (I feel like Demon was much more protected in AAA.) Escorpión’s usage is one thing Elite is definitely doing right; they’re not just saying he’s a top guy because he’s booked in that position, he’s actually beating top people. It’s a big help.

Match 3: Emperador Azteca, Hijo de LA Park, Zumbi vs Diamante, Imposible, Karonte Jr.
Arena Lopez Mateos, 10/21/2016
Video: Liga Elite

1. técnicos
   • Zumbi splash Karonte Jr. (7:00)
   • COR Impossible & Diamante (8:47)
2. rudos
   • Diamante 450 splash Zumbi (3:28)
   • Karonte Jr. pumphandle powerbomb Hijo de LA Park (4:10)
3. técnicos
   • Emperador Azteca sit down powerbomb Imposible (5:41)
   • COR Diamante & Karonte Jr. (6:00)

Winner: técnicos (1/3)
Match Time: 18:57
Notes: unclear how Karonte Jr. didn’t get Dqed for a blatant foul on Zumbi in the second fall, but the match continued on.

Review: [great] A totally fun undercard match; this show has had the talent for them and put it together in this match. This was such a crazy one that a man violently broke thru a wood barrier and the announcers didn’t react to it (or they didn’t see it.) Imposible and Emperador have faced a dozen times elsewhere and looked good against each other, but everyone looked good. Zumbi was very entertaining, especially in the first fall. Karonte looked much better here than he does with his brother. Diamante’s assisted 450 splash was the best thing he’s done on this show, and Hijo de LA Park showed more ability and personality than usual. The first fall was good undercard stuff and it really picked up to craziness in the second fall. Crowd really enjoyed this and for good reason.

Match 4: Carístico vs LA Park in a cage match and in a Liga Elite match
Arena Lopez Mateos, 10/21/2016
Video: Liga Elite, R de Rudo

Winner: Carístico (escape)
Match Time: 17:47
Notes: There are chairs in the ring for reasons (mostly bleeding reasons.) The replays get out of control in this match – they’re caught missing live action while showing replays, so replays follow replays. And sometimes we don’t even get that, where it feels like editing but is a miss.

Escorpión stops Park from climbing out and slams him off the tpo rope about 13 minutes in. (We’re shown Escorpión run in three times – most of these frequent replays add little.) Escorpión eventually drops Carístico with an Aguijon Mortal, we see three replays of that, and then Park is suddenly up Escorpión. Park hits Escorpión with a chair and then helps Carístico escape, so that’s the match. Carístico wins, but LA Park gives him the win and is the guy who is cheered out of it. Park gives Escorpión a martinete on a chair for good measure.

Review: [good] this was one of the better lucha cage matches I’ve seen until the Rey Escorpión ran in, and then it become a lot of nonsense. Rey Escorpión doesn’t make any sense – he’s against both teams! – and then he gets demolished anyway. Carístico and Park are plenty violent with each other on the own, and Carístico really seems to enjoy working with Park. (He loves to mimic the strut every time Park does it.) The spear into the chair spot looks great, and even more so since it came out of nowhere. Park goes well with Caristico’s flying too; they match up well. This is hard to recommend for the nonsense at the end, and the insane amount of replays that distracted from the action, but it’s probably was a lot of fun live.