Recapped: 12/06/2019
Matches:
Ricky Boy, Skayde, Súper Muñeco beat Gallego, Mr. Cóndor, Rocky Santana
(14:01 [5:44, 3:06, 5:11], 1/3, ok, )
Atlantis Jr., El Audaz, Star Jr. beat Hechicero, Misterioso, Sagrado
(19:41 [8:01, 4:22, 7:18], 1/3, good, )
Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Virus beat Mano Negra, Negro Navarro, Súper Astro
(13:17 [6:40, 5:00, 1:37], 2/3, below average)
Satánico beat Solar I
(11:29, nudo, ok)
El Bandido, Valiente, Volador Jr. beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Último Guerrero
(14:02 [6:47, 2:21, 4:54], 2/3, good)
Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Tinieblas Jr., Villano IV beat Canek, Fuerza Guerrera, Máscara Año 2000
(15:28 [8:30, 3:13, 3:45], 1/3 DQ, below average,
What happened:
Canek fouled Rayo to end the main event.
Mano Negra was honored after his match for his Arena Mexico retirement. Panico gave him a plaque. Mano Negra unmasked as posed with his family.
Skayde also unmasked after the opener. Mascara 2000 was unmasked during his match.
Thoughts:
Booking Tinieblas Jr. for this show was a work of genius. He wasn’t any good, but he brought Alushe and the Fuerza/Alushe spots saved the main event from being rejected this year. The furry mascot got a better reaction than the immobile legends – Rayo got a decent reaction but Canek didn’t seem to get one on the stream, and no one much cared about their foul finish. If Fuerza is really retiring in April 2021, then next year’s version of this show has to be the last one off with this group. This wasn’t much without him.
The semi-main was enjoyable, even if it could’ve gone smoother. Both the first fall and second fall had bits go wrong right before the finish. Bandido didn’t get pinned, but he did do a dive outside instead of getting a big pinfall to win the match. He did get a chance to show off his 21-Plex and Miguel Linares hyped it as a big deal, though he otherwise didn’t stand out above Valiente & Volador (who were very on.) The entire match felt like Bandido being plugged into Mistico’s spot in a typical CMLL match, the underdog who fights back to win after a lot of punishment. Maybe just a straight-up exhibition of his big spots would’ve been better.
Satanico/Solar was not for me. The mat wrestling was usually effective if emotionless. They struggled a lot as they sped it up. The spear (maybe?) spot near the end, but the (maybe?) legsweep spot before it where Satanico gave up trying to put on an octopus and they just stood up and tried something else looked unprofessional. They tried their best at a Solar match, which also felt like missing out on some of the best parts of Satanico – he’s a wrestler great at showing emotion, but all he did here was look frustrated. This probably gave people looking for this match exactly what they wanted, but it was hurt by a surprisingly vocal amount of people in Arnea Mexico having no time for it.
It’s a good thing this was Mano Negra’s match last Arena Mexico. He was iceberg slow and couldn’t take a bump. He seemed aware of his limitations but there was nothing to be done to hide them. Super Astro and Negro Navarro were not a lot better. Astro wrestling is a problem because he feels obligated to do a highspot and it doesn’t appear safe for him to do them anymore. Navarro can just lay on the mat and have Virus pull at various limbs to be reversed to seem like his old self, though he’s clearly not the same guy he was a few years ago. Virus taking that bump at the end was nuts.
The segunda got an unusual amount of time, perhaps figuring some of the later bouts were going to be shorter. (It didn’t really work that way.) That, and maybe a guess at what would work for this crowd, led to a lot of working of holds and working more methodically. It wasn’t slow, but they took their time to make stuff stick out more. Star Jr. & Hechicero especially were in there to start for a while. Hechicero was the standout of his side, though Sagrado & Misterioso were doing a lot more than usual. The crowd has no time for the tecnicos and their flips, but they were pretty solid. Star Jr. benefited most from working with Hechicero. Atlantis tried hard to win over a crowd who decided to pick on him specifically. The ending was a usual run of dives and it needed something more special to really stand out, but it was still pretty good.
The opener was saved by by Los Diabolicos willingness to sell and stooge big for everything. The match was actually good when it was them and Skayde in, especially in the third fall. The match was salvageable when Muneco was in only because the rudos were working so hard to make him look good. It is hard to imagine how Muneco must look the rest of the time without this sort of help. Ricky Boy owes a great Christmas gift to whichever buddy got him this spot. He showed nothing.
