The Crash: 2018-09-08 

Recapped: 09/08/2018

All matches were attempted to air live on Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California on 09/08/2018. The links have timestamps, but Facebook doesn’t always pick up on them.

Matches: 

Star Boy, Viento, Zarco beat Audaz, Torito Negro, Xperia
(9:19, middle rope styles crash on Torito Negro, ok, thecrash.luchalibre)

Princesa Sugehit beat Tessa Blanchard
(9:59, Princesa Sugehit pendulum backbreaker, below average, thecrash.luchalibre)

Hechicero (CMLL) beat Daga
(19:15, Magia Negra, great, thecrash.luchalibre)

CIMA & T-Hawk beat Rey Horus & Soberano Jr.
(~14:00, CIMA Meteora Soberano, good, thecrash.luchalibre)

Bestia 666, Fatu, Mecha Wolf beat Cuatrero, Forastero (CMLL), Sansón
(9:57, 450 jumping spinning DDT Sansón, great,thecrash.luchalibre)

Carístico & Volador Jr. beat Penta Zero M &The King
(12:12, Volador pin Penta, ok,thecrash.luchalibre)

What happened: 

Daga invited himself to be Penta’s partner, replacing Fenix (who was not mentioned by the name.) Penta knew something was wrong and did not like this idea. Daga attacked Penta with a chair to give Volador the win, then unmasked Penta after. Volador took Caristico’s mask. Volador took Caristico’s mask for good measure.

Garza was special referee of the semimain, and of course favored his friends. He maintained he was important after the match.

La Rebelion Amarilla introduced Fatu as a new member. He had teamed with them previously.

Daga challenged Hechicero to a rematch.

The announcers were under the impression Sugehit & Blanchard was for a title, but it didn’t appear to be the case. Sugehit instead challenged Blanchard for a title match, though that didn’t appear to be coming soon.

Thoughts:

The main event was the second worse match of the show. Daga working twice after a long match didn’t help, but there wasn’t a lot of energy by the other guys either. It was match headed to a turn from the get-go, and took some shortcuts with crowd brawling for a while. The action in the ring was fine but rarely something special; the Caristico/Penta stuff was the belt. Volador wasn’t much better than he was Friday night, and his half-hearted effort caught up to him on a terrible dive screwup. This wasn’t tragic but the main event guys seem the least motivated ones on the show – even Tessa & Sugehit were trying more, it just wasn’t working.

The Rebelion/NGD match was a good meeting of the two rudo factions. The NGD adapted some of what they do and made a good impression with their efforts in a different ring. I haven’t seen a lot of the Yellow Rebellion this year, and not all of Fatu. Fatu seemed like he was specifically showcased here, and came thru big with his double slam and his dive near the end. Bestia & Mecha Wolf did well in their spots, especially the DDT on the end. I was expecting some sort of angle with Garza, but he just acted as a normal evil referee would. This felt like just a taste of what these two teams could do and even just that was really good.

StrongHearts vs Horuz/Soberano was good as long as it lasted on the stream. It died in the last couple of minutes. The La Poesia version has most of the missing material, though there’s a big obvious. It’s a fun match that doesn’t feel totally essentially. Soberano & Horus are showcased well before the OWE team puts them down, and it’s worth your time if you’re into these guys. CIMA & T-Hawk were better for me here than they were a week later at PWG. Maybe they’re just a better fit in tag formats than singles.

Hechicero brought out the best performance in Daga in some time. The early portion mat wrestling of the match was so good that it was a disappoint they stopped it out to go outside and strike, but they eventually made that work when they came back inside too. They had the crowd into the near falls for a long time, with everyone freaking out with Daga’s corner dropkick didn’t work. Daga was a more complete wrestler, and a sharper one, than he’s looked elsewhere this year. Hechicero going long is as good as anyone in Mexico at it, and it was nice to get a bonus version of him doing it in a little different style than CMLL ones usually do. This had peaks and valleys nicely, and less a reliance on dives than you might happen in Arena Mexico.

The women’s match wasn’t good. They had trouble working their different styles together, so we didn’t see the best of either woman. What they tried went wrong way too often, with some obvious messed up spots. It was a slow-paced match that wasn’t really exciting even when they were hitting their moves. Tessa storming out after the match did not seem a professional reaction but you could kind of see where she was coming from.

I’m missing notes on the opener, but it was the classic Tijuana spot fest opener. It felt too all over the place and spotty for me, but might be for you if you want moves on top of moves.