The Crash: 2017-04-05 

Recapped: 07/17/2017

All matches took place at Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal on 04/05/2017.

(more GIFs I didn’t use are here.)

Matches: 

Arkángel Divino, Black Boy (Baja California), Zumbi beat  Astrolux, Black Danger (Baja California), Último Maldito
(8:02, Arkangel super mistica on Ultimo Maldito, great, via +LuchaTV)

They told everyone to go nuts in the opener and they went nuts for a crazy eight minute spot fest. Arkrangel & Último Malidto stuff depends on practicing positioning and good timing, but can look out of this world when it all lines up and this was a really good night for that. Astrolux was part of everything else exciting, whether it was planned ot be one or not. (No one was having a good night at catching dives.) Astrolux is so light that he can do incredible flips and be thrown around easily, and it’s all going to be about how well he can survive the insanity. This was totally insane and he did survive it.

Keira won the The Crash Women’s Championship in an elimination match
(11:05, via +LuchaTV)

1. champion Sexy Star abandoned the match with an ankle injury

2. Keira Devil’s Wings Candy White (6:21)

3. Lady Maravilla northern lights suplex Laura Van Ness (7:24)

4. Lady Maravilla spinning side slam Santana Garrett (8:33)

5. Keira capture cradle suplex Lady Maravilla (11:05)

My philosophy on The Crash shows is to watch all the matches, provided there’s a full length version out there. This is a match I definitely would’ve skipped if was more choosey, and I would’ve missed a fun match. It doesn’t really hit the extra gear until the last couple minutes of usual partners Keira and Maravilla going full out against each other, but it’s still fun as soon as Sexy Star leaves the match. She’s not that bad, it’s just a whole lot of her to get in her time before her worked injury, and the match is just an OK point until Maravilla & Keira start taking everyone out. It’s better usage of random one off foreigners than usual. Garrett and Von Ness do fine, but the match is not really about them, they’re just bodies for the regulars to eliminate. Maravilla had some really impressive moments and still gets eclipse by Keira, a world class wrecking machine who probably should put this performance on some permanent highlight reel. All her offense looks devastating, and she comes off as much more imposing than her size would seem to allow. Keira’s been arguabale the best indie luchadora since 2015, but somehow she’s getting even better.

Rey Horuz won a #1 contenders match for The Crash Cruiserweight championship over Laredo Kid, Mr. 450, Séptimo Dragón, Último Ninja, and DJZ
(13:50 Rey Horuz super casadora bomb on DJZ, good, via +LuchaTV)

The six way contenders match is the one where DJZ suffered an injury (on the Laredo Kid stacked up 450 splash) that would led to him nearly dying in the hospital a few hours later. The injury is not at all graphic or even really identifiable: if you knew DJZ got hurt but didn’t know when, you might think it happened on the finish instead. Still, I have trouble enjoying or recommending a match where people suffer near fatal injuries and this one didn’t come together in a way to change my mind. It felt like they peaked early on and couldn’t get the match going to that level again, though that finish did look huge. eptimo Dragon looked better here than he has in other Crash matches, Último Ninja a little bit worse. DJZ fit in with these guys outside of the nearly dying that thing and would be a welcome addition if he ever heads back to Mexico.

Jack Evans, Máscarita Dorada, Willie Mack  defeated ACH, Bestia 666, Black Tauro (Elite) (15:49, The Mack Chocolate Thunder Driver Bestia, good, via LuchaTime)

I think a comedy match was a good change of pace in the fourth match but it still was kind of a goofy comedy match that probably won’t play well outside of that context. Highlight was Black Taurus asking his friend ACH if he would like to also beat up the small person. ACH declined. Action was fine, but not at the level of the other matches, and watching on the different camera made it a little less appealing. (They did pretty well for a fancam though.) It did get more serious as they went along and Jack looked really sharp in this match. Mack winning is really quite random given where they were going. ACH always gets over when he comes to Mexico and seems like he’d do exceptionally well in Mexico but he’d also probably get bored with the limitations of the format. A Mexican promotion bringing him for three weeks every few months would work well, but doesn’t seem realistic.

Daga beat  Extreme Tiger
(5:24, backcracker, ok, via +LuchaTV)

I don’t know what happened with the Tiger/Daga match, but the result was disappointing given the names. It was simply a five minute match with a chinlock and Daga not doing that much. If you hadn’t seen him before, he looked like a random guy who happened to be facing Extreme Tiger. A slower match on a match with lot of crazy matches has to be something special to stand out, and this was nothing special at all.

Bobby Lashley, Carlito, Jeff Cobb beat Blue Demon, Brian Cage, Garza Jr.   (9:21, Lashely foul Garza, ok, via LuchaTime)

If you want a long time spent watching Carlito trying to unmask Blue Demon away from the camera, this semimain is the match for you. This match is a waste of some entertaining people and also Carlito. Brian Cage nearly ends himself on a bad dive and that was the moment where it was clear nothing good was coming of this match. This was a baffling finish, Garza coming off like a good by ripping off his pants and immediately getting fouled. They seemed headed to Lashley/Garza at this point so it kind of made sense, but Garza as a tecnico didn’t seem to win a whole lot.

Penta Zero M, Rey Fénix, Rey Mysterio 619 beat Cody Rhodes, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Sami Callihan
(17:27, Rey Mysterio frogsplash Sami Callihan, good, via +LuchaTV)

The main event was better than the couple matches that preceded it, but it felt more like guys doing a B main even than the higher energy matches we had seen before. Some of it’s the length, with them slowing way down (a chinlock!) to stretch it out a bit. Nakajima seemed to disappear for about half this match, but he was fine while he was in, and I liked him better than Cody. It picked up at the end and wasn’t a waste of time, but it seemed more fun live on Periscope than on the rewatch months later.