February 28, 2018 – luchablog

2018 watch later catch up, part 1 of ∞

February 28, 2018February 27, 2018 thecubsfan

the hesitation isn’t great, but this is still spectacular

As usual, these are interesting looking matches from shows I don’t normally write about when I can get to them. There’s a lot of people who are quicker at reviewing non-big 2 stuff: you should check out Rob’s list or Matt B’s blog or Pushing Upward or other places I can’t think of at the moment. I crib from those lists and from what pops out to me and I’ll still miss a few. The currently goal right now is to get thru a few of these before I get distracted with Elite/Lucha Underground/baseball, even if it means those Puebla & Martes recaps will continue to be way late.

(At least for the moment, I’m doing The Crash Tijuana reviews as part of these posts instead of breaking them out on their own.)

Keyra vs Ricky Marvin
(Lucha Memes @ Coliseo Coacalco on 01/07, 15:05, great, via +LuchaTV)

This match literally beings with a man punching a woman in the face, so you might want to keep on scrolling if you’re not good with wrestling matches like that.

It came across to me that Marvin just destroyed Keyra outside of a few hope spots on the first watch. It’s closer to balanced when I rewatched it for this recap. Keyra really takes over the match for an extended period after Marvin’s blind fall into the board on the outside. There’s a crossup moment about ten seconds in, and everything looked tight and often brutal from that moment on. Ricky Marvin comes the nearest he’s ever going to be to a movie horror monster early on, just destroying Keyra in big and impressive ways. (The fans, including an eight year old girl, lose their minds when Keyra’s easily thrown into one of the support poles.) Ricky Marvin pulls of the fiercest tapatia which ever as excited, and is good taking as getting just by the way that huracanrana spots goes. The Spanish Fly spot, set up by being ignored for about ten minutes, is also spectacular. We saw this level of Ricky Marvin on these indie shows prior to AAA, and hopefully we see a lot more of that this year.

this GIF is for the little girl on the far right laughing at the violence

there may not be a better looking huracanana in 2018

death

Imposible, Karaoui, Eterno, Diablo Jr., Hijo del Alebrije, Alas de Acero, Freelance, Aramis, Rafy, Leo, Teelo, Mike, Dinamic Black, Dragón Fly, Black Dragón, Pantera I in a Zona de Ejecucion match
(IWRG @ Arena Naucalpan on 01/07, good, 19:31, via IWRG tv)

Zona de Ejecution is a four way elimination match, where a new person comes in every time some one’s eliminated until there are no more people. This match is a mess early, with Mike eliminated off a referee pin and Freelance (in a Pantera mask) only not dying because the his shoulder collided with the top rope as he was making a headfirst fall towards the mat. It settles down from there and the strange rules to the match give everyone license to go full out for the few minutes they’re actually in the match. The way they do the match, with everyone waiting to get in just hanging out at ringside, sometimes hard makes it hard to always be sure of who’s in and there’s no sense of who’s coming next. It does mean there’s zero down time between eliminations, and the amount of people passing thru in such a short time makes it hard for anyone but the final two to stick out. Eterno did look good in the time he had, Black Dragon was steadier than usual, Freelance was amazing to keep going after his injury, and Karaoui seemed to be in for about 12 seconds. Aramis looked great on the way to the win. The match was fun as an entire package if you can get past the early iffiness.

Pantera I © vs Aramis for the IWRG Intercontinental Lightweight Championship
(IWRG @ Arena Naucalpan on 01/14, 10:47, good, via IWRG tv)

If I was told there was a young guy and old guy in a match, and one pretty much did dives and Destroyers while the other one was well more rounded with good mat work, I probably would’ve made the wrong guess about who is what. Pantera comes of as a man half his age, but only in that he seems to have no idea how to put together an entertaining match and just wants to do a lot of Canadian Destroyers. Aramis is the far more entertaining luchador who’s held back because of his opponents limitations. This was a match both barely crossing the threshold of good, and totally frustrating. Aramis deserved better.

Aramis always knows who to make this look like it’s really twisting the knee

I didn’t realize this was meant to be an amrdrag

not sure the running start helped, but nice effort anyway

Rey Horus vs Joey Janela
(The Crash @ Auditorio de Tijuana on 01/20, 19:10, good, via MegaKakashi619)

Janela & Horuz had some really impressive big spots and sometimes didn’t feel like a whole lot in between in it. I’m very willing to believe this one is just me being grumpy, either by burnout or by being over watching The Crash handhelds – watching the corner of the ring while the action is happening elsewhere is getting old, and the seated chair spot is missed by camera. Janela’s wildness fits in here and this is a good enough debut to want to see him back again. Maybe worth a rewatch if the professional footage ever turns up.

Daga, Masada, Penta Zero M vs Bestia 666, Garza Jr., Mr. 450
(The Crash @ Auditorio de Tijuana on 01/20, 24:00, good, via MegaKakashi619)

Camera work isn’t great here, but it remains free and available and that’s more than I can say about whatever the big guy in front of the camera is producing. A wild weapons brawl isn’t always easy to see from a static angle, but we do get to see some of the bigger spots and the chaotic nature of the match does come thru well. Those big spots make the match; I couldn’t believe Garza took the skewers spot even watching it. I don’t quite understand why MechaWolf needed to drink water before doing his spear to his death, but whatever works for him. Bestia bled so much and I’m not even sure what happened. Another ‘maybe it’ll be better if we ever get to see the full version’ match.

Arkángel Divino & Mirage vs Aramis (Estado de México) & Astrolux and Black Danger & Látigo
(Team 1927 @ Rancho Grande, Mexicali, Baja California on 01/21, 6:33, good, 126f Pro Wrestling Magazine)

This is edited, enough to take out pauses and a couple iffy moments, but not distracting so. It leaves a fast paced match, with everyone in so often that it’s hard to remember who’s supposed to be on each team. Mirage hasn’t impressed in previous matches I’ve seen, but does a good job of basing for Astrolux here. Arkangel Divino did a couple near things, as he normally does, though most of it was with Black Danger. Astrolux is willing to try a lot of stuff, but it’s tough for people to stick out too much in the time they had here. Fun is not super substantial.

this Arkangel headscissors is always cool

CMLL Tuesday results, ELITE TV show exists?, Gladiador from AAA to Crash, Fenix/Flamita off

February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 thecubsfan

CMLL (TUE) 02/27/2018 Arena México [CMLL, Culticon]
1) Acero & Aéreo b Pequeño Olímpico & Pequeño Universo 2000
2) Astral, Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante b Akuma, El Coyote, Príncipe Odín Jr.
tecnicos took 2/3
3) Cancerbero, Raziel, Templario b Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. b Flyer [lightning]
Flyer replaced Rey Cometa
5) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. b Kawato San, Luciferno, Pólvora
tecnicos took 1/3.
6) Gran Guerrero, Marco Corleone, Máscara Año 2000 DQ Kráneo, Pierroth, Rush [Relevos Increíbles]
straight falls. Pierroth fouled Mascara 2000 in the second.

I have seen zero seconds of this show so far. It might have been OK? CMLL is now posting quick post match promos from shows, with Kraneo, Templario, Guerrero Maya, and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja.

CMLL (TUE) 02/27/2018 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Guerrero de la Muerte & Mr. Apolo b El Alteño & Micro
Rudos took 2/3.
2) Difunto, Espanto Jr., Metálico b Magnum, Retro, Sangre Imperial
rudos took 2/3.
3) Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora b Lady Maravilla, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit
Rudos took 2/3.
4) Furia Roja, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b Diamante Azul, Titán, Tritón
Rudos took 1/3, with Furia Roja surprisingly beating Diamante Azul cleanly.
5) Cavernario, Ephesto, Mephisto b Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Volador Jr.
Rudos took 1/3, Cavernario hassling Atlantis, beating him, and challenging him for a title match.

An all rudo show. The CMLL recap notes the tecnicos were baffled by Furia Roja winning. That has to be going somewhere.

Azteca’s A+ is promoting a 03/11 start for “Arena Azteca”, which seems to be a new name for the Elite TV show. That would mean TV would start be taped on 03/04. There was an ELITE lineup for 03/04, but now it looks like:

CMLL (SUN) 03/04/2018 Arena México
1) Magia Blanca & Robin vs Grako & Inquisidor
2) Astral, Oro Jr., Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca
3) Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Titán vs Kawato San, Okumura, Universo 2000 Jr.
4) Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
5) Dragón Lee vs Cavernario
6) Pierroth, Rush, Terrible vs Diamante Azul, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr.

A normal CMLL show. So either Arena Azteca starts with the 02/11 show or the start date is wrong. ELITE start dates don’t have a great track record.

This would be the second time in a month CMLL’s run Dragon Lee versus Cavernario on a Sunday show, the only Arena Mexico show that’s not normally taped. It’s possible the first one may air, if Lucha Azteca continues airing Sunday shows. This is the 10th Cavernario/Dragon Lee match overall:

2 lightning style matches in En Busca de un Idolo (one & two)
1 Arena Coliseo match, never televised
1 Guadalajara match, only televised locally, before their internet stream
1 Guadalajara match, on TV and captured via stream
1 Korakuen Hall match, only aired on NJPW World
3 Sunday Arena Mexico matches, only highlights shown of 1 (with the wrong title) so far
1 Friday Arena Mexico lightning match.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated is reporting Rey Mysterio is “finalizing his return to WWE, which includes a match at WrestleMania 34.” Both Wrestling Observer and PWInsider have denied this story. Rey did visit a WWE house show over the weekend, but hasn’t said anything about this story. Barrasso’s track record is shaky, so I’m actually skipping out a chance to speculate on something until there’s something more said.

On his Facebook, Ultimo Gladiador announced he was leaving AAA. (SuperLuchas noted this first.) Gladiador started in AAA as a member of Familia de Tijuana and later became a Silver King ally (where he suddenly became masked after wrestling unmasked.) Gladiador was added to the Infierno Rockers in 2014, then took over the Parka Negra gimmick in 2015. AAA focused on a narrower amount of wrestlers in 2017, and Parka Negra didn’t make the cut, working mostly off TV. His last appearance on AAA TV would’ve been the December earthquake benefit show which aired in later January.

The Parka Negra who appeared a few weeks ago was Angel Mortal Jr., who was still wearing his Angel Mortal Jr. gear with a Parka Negra mask and Perros del Mal shirt. The Parka Negra character (probably played by Gladiador) had been added as a Perros del Mal member on house shows only, and it might have been intended as a one night TV solution for Mr. Aguila not making the show. I don’t know if it affected Gladiador’s decision, because he was already working a fair bit of indie shows, but seeing his character on TV without him might have been a sign that it was time to move on.

The Crash today announced Ultimo Gladaidor as appearing on their 03/17 show. That lineup is already announced, with no surprise wrestlers, which suggests this was a sudden decision.

Bengala, Hahastary, Lady Shani and Australian Suicide are representing AAA on upcoming reality show Reto 4 Elementos. They’ve been talking about it for a while, and I keep waiting for an AAA press release to talk about it. MedioTiempo helps out by interviewing those luchadors about the show. The show doesn’t appear to have an air date, but it’s said to be airing on Mexico on Televisa and in the US on Unimas.

Krudemon of R de Rudo says AAA will introduce a new luchador on Tuesday. Guessing that’s a press conference and the new person will actually debut on Rey de Reyes. There’s plenty of space for someone.

Sociedad 3.0 has a recap of this weekend’s Arena Xalapa show. (This recap is posted the same on three different sites, and I can’t tell which one is the original.) What caught my eye was the “Marcela, new champion” headline, since she was supposed to be challenging Dalys for the women’s title. That match did happen, but it turns out it was a for a women’s continental championship that may have only existed for that day and not the CMLL one Dalys holds. Tirantes wrestled on the show under his original gimmick of Mr. Peligro.

Reina Isis & La Jarochita made it to Japan.

AroLucha posted Mr. 450/Mecha Wolf versus Willie Mack from their first TV taping for free on YouTube.

+LuchaTV has an interview with Blue Demon on their podcast.

MDA on 03/11 has LA Park vs Dr. Wagner vs Zorro.

Baja Stars USA has changed it’s 03/17 main event from Extreme Tiger & Misterioso Jr. vs Mecha Wolf & Bestia 666 to Soberano Jr. vs Mecha Wolf vs Barbaro Cavernario., saying Bestia & Tiger became unavailable.

The Crash on 04/06 at WrestleCon

Adding Rich Swann to the singles match has generally received negative reactions on Twitter. People really wanted to see that singles match, and people bought tickets specifically to see that match. Some people aren’t very enthused to see Swann in general, and Swann could’ve been easily added to the Penta/Aries or Horus/Flip/Laredo matches.

Someone will be booking Fenix vs Flamtia soon enough. The Crash is just missing on the chance. It’s Penta vs Fenix all over again.

(On Facebook, there’s on person who thought Fenix/Flamita was boring and two people who want to know how they can see this show. The Crash home fans are stuck in the same struggle with this promotion that everyone else is when they run in Tijuana. That’s also instructive – this show isn’t the same fanbase as The Crash usually performs in front of and will have different expectations.)

Chilanga Mask returns on 05/20 in Coliseo Coacalco

Lucha Report has this latest news update.

Segunda Caida reviews Fuerza Guerrera vs Demus.

Lineups

AAA (SUN) 03/04/2018 Acropolis Puebla, Puebla, Puebla
Rey de Reyes, 2018
1) Angelikal vs Dave The Clown, Pimpinela Escarlata, ? [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]
2) Bengala vs Dark Scoria, Máscara de Bronce, ? [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]
3) Hijo Del Vikingo vs Ángel Mortal Jr., Dark Cuervo, ? [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]
4) La Parka vs Dinastía, Venum, ? [Rey de Reyes, semifinal]
5) Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly vs Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana [TLC]
6) ? vs ??, ???, ???? [Rey de Reyes, final]
7) Dr. Wagner Jr., La Máscara, Máximo, Psycho Clown vs Hernandez, Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Monsther Clown, Murder Clown
8) Hijo del Fantasma vs Texano Jr. [mask, hair]

The full Rey de Reyes card. There’s really no match added that we didn’t know already, since the undercard is completely the tournament. The biggest change is Monster & Murder being added to the semimain. Perhaps they were meant to be there all along and they didn’t want to give away the outcome of their qualifying match.

OGT vs Poder del Norte is listed just as a TLC match on the poster, though the Twitch preview says the trios titles are on the line. AAA is fully capable of running a ladder match with nothing to grab, and OGT winning the trios feud and not winning the trios titles is about how titles are normally booked here so I’m willing to believe anyway.

The Rey de Reyes has been used to set up title contenders in past years. Last year’s Rey de Reyes winner went on to, uh, not participate on this year’s Rey de Reyes even though he’s healthy now? Maybe he’ll show up in some other way. It’s hard to predict who would win this one with so many mystery spots, outside of the usual “LOL, La Parka wins” finish. It would be terrible – let me repeat, terrible – to see Dave the Clown win two matches and this tournament, but there’s a tiny bit of logic in it if AAA’s planning on doing a mask match between him and Parka. Everyone else are people not pushed strong (or usually at at all) and a win by them would probably end up the same fate as Argenis’ win: they get a sword but no follow up. The matches themselves look like they may suffer a bit with all the rudos tied up elsewhere. This is a scheduled off day for Lucha Underground people, so it would be possible one or two people who normally only work with that crew might end up here to fill those spots.

The poster says 5:30 but AAA is insistent to Twitch people that it starts at 6pm. Maybe that’s the new deal: AAA will start doing the giveaways and the pre-show flag parts at 5:30 but also say when they plan to start running the actual matches.

There’s no sign of those Puebla guys who won a chance to be on the show. I would like to see former DTU Nerd Tony Iron as a mystery wrestler but I suspect that’s not what is happening here.

CMLL (MON) 03/05/2018 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Meyer vs Fuerza Chicana & King Jaguar
2) Rey Samuray & Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Akuma & Espanto Jr.
3) Audaz, Stigma, Tritón vs El Malayo, Puma, Tiger
4) Hechicero, Kráneo, Stuka Jr. vs Johnny Idol, Sam Adonis, Titán [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Mistico, Pierroth, Rush vs Diamante Azul, Euforia, Mr. Niebla [Relevos Increíbles]
6) Volador Jr. vs Cavernario

Three straight singles matches with Cavernario is not great planning. Neither is two relevos increibles. I think they might really be doing the Kraneo/Idol feud? I think the tercera might be good until the finish involves Stigma?

DTU (SAT) 03/17/2018 Autolavado VM, Tulancingo, Hidalgo
1) Mini Flash vs Irvin, Murdo-K, Ángel Negro
2) Anarquía & Kevin Nerd vs Alfa & Fly Danger and Devitt Rodríguez & Hard Boy
3) Adrenalina vs Máscara Aerea, Jimmy, Camuflaje, Exotico
4) Billy Gamer & Toto Gamer vs Drolux & Moria
5) Jimmy Lloyd vs Draztick Boy
6) Eric Ryan & G-Raver vs Cíclope & Miedo Extremo and Crazy King & Ovett
7) Violento Jack © vs Kenji Fukimoto [FREEDOM HEAVY]

Violento Jack defends a Japanese championship in his home town.

AAA on Twitch: 2018-02-09

February 28, 2018February 27, 2018 thecubsfan

Recapped: 02/09/2018

All matches aired live from Palenque de la Feria Nacional De San Marcos, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (and I was busy streaming CMLL to watch it live.)

Matches:

Ashley & Faby Apache beat Estrella Divina & Lady Shani
(8:58, Faby Apache pin Lady Shani, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Australian Suicide beat Hijo Del Vikingo for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
(8:46, Australian Suicide Fetus Milkshake, good, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

La Máscara & Máximo beat six local wrestlers, including Corazón Forajido, Discovery, Príncipe Seir, and Xtrem X
(4:29, though it’s unclear when this started and stopped and it barely was a real match, n/r, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria © beat Joe Lider & Parka Negra for the AAA World Tag Team Championship
(11:35, Escoria legdrop Parka Negra, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly went to a double pin draw Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
(14:12, Averno pinned Mocho & Carta Brava pin Super Fly, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Dave The Clown & Texano Jr. beat Angelikal & Hijo del Fantasma
(14:58, DQ, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Dr. Wagner Jr. © beat La Parka for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship
(19:18, DQ, below average, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

What happened:

Rey Wagner throws his shirt to the crowd. The fans throw it back on the first try. He finds someone to throw it to later, but the crowd is mostly pro Parka. This kills some time. First action comes 4:06 into the match.

Nineteen minutes into the match, Blue Demon, Wagner and Hernandez walk to the ring. Parka immediately gives Wagner the urange, the move he won with in Mexico City. Parka covers, and Demon walks in the ring and kicks him in the face. Parka should win the match by DQ, which means he’s champion since titles change here on DQ. Instead, they rule as Wagner winning by DQ. The rudo trio beat up Parka, and Wagner celebrates a if they’re with him. Wagner goes for the Wagner touch with them, with Demon saying no and Hernandez saying yes. Demon says something to the younger Wagner, and the young Wagner attacks his father. Hernandez roots him on. Cuervo, Lady Shani and Vikingo materialize out of nowhere, in theory be saves, but in reality to be cannon fodder to be destroyed by the new rudos. (They do get in some offense, which is more than usual in these situations, but they’re also clearly there to take power moves from the rudos.) Mascara and Maximo also try to make the save and are beat up. Psycho Clown does better, taking out Wagner & Hernandez. The Alvarados and the tecnicos pose, only for Demon to come back in, hit Psych with a chair and take off his mask. Hijo de Wagner & Hernandez come back in and all the técnicos are taken out. (Vikingo disappears after getting thrown out of the ring by Hernandez.) Wagner is spared from the beating so he can cut a promo on the rudos, who just continue beating up the other tecnicos afterwards.

Vampiro attempts to eject Hijo del Tirantes before the semimain, but is apparently overruled by the local commissioner. Tirantes refuses to count a técnico pinfall a minute in, so that local commissioner is some kind of moron. Tirantes attacks a security officer, who just happens to have handcuffs and the key on a chain. Texano & Tirantes handcuff Fantasma to the bottom rope, while occasionally being hit by coins. Angelikal bleeds heavily after Texano works over his forehead. Angelikal is taken out on a stretcher after two piledrivers, but the rudos dump him off the stretcher and beat him up some more. Only after Angelikal is taken to the back, Bengala appears to take out the rudos. Bengala gets the key to Fantasma, but gets powerbombed into a wood plank before Fantasma can help out. Fantasma cleans house, giving Dave the Clown the Thrill of the Hunt on the stage. Tirantes calls a DQ at Fantasma at that point to end the match. Tirantes dumbly stood in the ring to taunt Fantamsa while Texano left, and Texano made no real attempt to get involved as Fatnasma beat him up – Texano just eventually pulled him out. Fantasma tells the crowd that Texano’s gone too far and he’s winning Texano’s hair for all of the fans.

Tito is cool, but whoever’s manning the camera switcher needs to calm down

Mocho & Super Fly were both fouled in their match, then pinned at the same time to cause the draw finish. Vampiro walks out and makes a TLC match between them for the trios titles at Rey de Reyes, which will be the end of their feud. Vampiro weirdly demands they accept or they’ll be forever banned from AAA, which seemed odd when both sides seemed ok with the match until then.

This is the debut of Angel Mortal Jr. as the latest version of Parka Negra and as a member of Perros del Mal. (Mr. Aguila’s video plays, but he is not present.) Parka Negra is wearing a Parka Negra mask and Angel Mortal Jr.’s gear, which is a slight clue of his previous identity and maybe a sign this was a last minute decision. The +LuchaTV guys actually acknowledge Mr. Aguila is not here, which breaks with lucha tradition (but is Good.) The match is announced as a title match right before it happens, and was not advertised as one.

La Mascara and Máximo, wearing his AroLucha shirt, thank AAA & the fans for the chance to wrestle in AAA. They’re so hyped to wrestle that they challenge anyone to come out to face them. Two unidentified locals walk out with AAA Aguascalientes belts and a local referee. Máximo is not impressed and asked for two others ones. Mascara up it to four, and they get four more luchadors. Máximo realizes there’s now six people out there and says no, but the Aguascalientes guys attack.

when you’re totally the real Parka Negra

The local luchadors are never named (so I’m guessing names from looking around Facebook profiles and past Aguascalientes lineups.) They beat up the Alvarados for about three minutes before chair shots go awry. Máximo pins three on a rope walk splash, La Mascara beats another with a cradle, and another guy just leaves the ring instead of fighting. No one really understand what’s going on for the duration of the segment.

After Suicide retained his title, he decided to hit Vikingo with it. Angelikal made the save in no seconds flat. It comes off as if Angelikal is going for the title next, but it might have simply been to get the fans used to seeing him before he’s destroyed later.

Faby continues to bully Ashley in the opening women’s match, though she also seems to get in most of the offense for her team, throwing Ashley on pins she created. About six minutes in, Estrella Divina realizes she’s a ruda and suddenly stops getting along with Lady Shani. There doesn’t seem to be any reason in the match for the sudden shift. Dvina keeps on fighting Ashley, but later hits Shani with a chair, kicks Ashley away, and allows Faby to pick up the pin. Both Apache and Divina are mean to Ashley after the match. She shares a look with Shani before walking back with them.

Thoughts:

The main event was a boring match with no finish. This wasn’t as blatantly an angle under the pretense of a match like other ones on the show, the match that led into it was just no good. It was mostly Wagner beating up Parka slowly for a long time. Parka can only sell things by being completely dead, so it’s not the most exciting action. This was the right crowd to do this match, because the kids were so into Parka that they stuck with this and cheered his big near falls. It came across as too slow and too little action thru a monitor. I don’t know about making 51 year old Blue Demon Jr. your lead rudo in 2018, but I wish he came out about 10 minutes earlier.

The semimain was just a really long angle disguised as match. They wanted Fantasma and Texano to destroy people without really fighting each other. I’m not sure it worked to build up their issue because the amount of other people distracted from it – even though that’s clearly the way the apuesta match is going, they might be want to at least hint it’s not.

The fourth match was a fun brawl, with both rudo teams playing it up totally rudo, both teams playing up their character. The trips thru the crowd were fun. Carta Brava seemed to be handed a half dozen drinks to throw. They kept up the same intensity when they were in the ring. Many shirts were murdered to make the match work and it did. Even the draw finish didn’t come off as too forced, although they play it off as a messed up finish.

it was really important to Cota to get the elbow smash in

The tag match was useful if not all that interesting. Cuervo & Scoria could use a tag win by themselves, defense or not, and they got the clean win over a team they should beat clean. The Perros del Mal weren’t interesting when they were in control, and the ex-Secta aren’t so great on offense to make a match by themselves. It was still alright, but would’ve been better even a little shorter. The yellow staple gun didn’t appear to actually be loaded, which made for good comedy in watching it.

The Mascara/Maximo segment was really just an angle to continue to introduce them. AAA definitely believes their fans do not follow CMLL and I’m not sure they’re wrong. The bit could’ve been faster, the locals got a lot more offense than you’d see from when WWE does this same bit, though that’s probably more with trying to keep the local promoter happy. They probably should’ve worked out the ending of the match a little better.

The cruiserweight title match was a really strong match, and a successful one at that. This would’ve been too quick for Vikingo to win the title for it to mean anything, but he put up so much of a challenge that he seems like a guy who will win it in the future and Suicide looks even strong for having beat him. There were some nicely done sequences here, especially from the Spanish Fly spot thru the reverse 450 splash. This title match felt like distinct from the rest of the show, which is only going to build if they keep stacking these matches on top of each other. Vikingo landing on his head looked scary as heck. Vikingo was supposed to take a dramatic bump and it just became more dramatic, but Suicide did a smart bit of keeping it simple while Vikingo was probably trying to remember what century it was.

There were too many things going on in the women’s match this time; the Faby/Shani issue seemed to be in third place behind Estrella being a random ruda and Faby/Ashley. Estrella Divina seems to turn up for a week, be put in an angle, and then disappear for four months, so it’s hard to believe that’s going to pay off in anyway. The match itself didn’t have great action in part because of the storylines, and part because Divina and Ashley didn’t wrestle especially well. Faby’s so over the top as a ruda that she’s going to get herself back over as a face if she doesn’t keep being mean to Ashley.

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