The Crash: 2017-03-25 

Recapped: 05/23/2017

Matches:

All matches took place on March 25, 2017.

Mirage, Oraculo, Súper Caló Jr. beat Black Danger, Jonathan, Último Maldito (11:19, Oraculo Spanish Fly Jonathan, via videoslucha3000, ok)

Flip Gordon & Mr. 450 beat Arkángel Divino & Black Boy (18:28, Mr. 450 splash on Black Danger, via videoslucha3000, good)

Bestia 666, Extreme Tiger, Laredo Kid  beat Dezmond Xavier, Famous B, Shane Strickland (13:22, Bestia 666 valagueza Dezmond Xavier, via videoslucha3000, good)

Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs Daga & Rey Mysterio 619 (17:04, Meltzer Driver, via videoslucha3000, great)

What happened: 

You can’t see it on the version up there, but the post match promos in the main event set up Young Bucks versus Lucha Brothers.

Also, after the opener, Orcaulo and Black Danger argue and are now feuding. James Storm interrupts to beat up all the guys in the opener, then get into a fight with Garza Jr. Konnan makes some stipulations for their match tonight, but that match never went up complete and the stipulations don’t go anywhere, so we can safely ignore it.

For whatever reason, the Máscarita Dorada vs Septimo Dragon and Garza Jr. & Sami Callihan vs Black Taurus & James Storm matches were not put online complete.

Thoughts: 

These were four matches of a similar type and differing quality. The matches got better as the night went on, but the variety could’ve used some help. I’m not sure I’d be rating the other two matches that highly, but maybe they would’ve offered something different to help. It’s a lot to watch these four matches heavy on spots in a row and I wouldn’t recommend watching all four.

It does really go ok, good, very good, great in order, probably by design. The Bucks and Mysterio in particular looked like world class professionals in the main event, taking the crowd up and down and keeping them for the entire match. There were definitely guys below them who can do things athletically those three guys can not, but they had much more polish and sense of the moment than anyone else. Daga was not bad by any means, he worked fine as a Young Bucks opponent and they made sure to give him a moment of hope before finishing him off, but he’s didn’t come off as on those guys levels yet. There was education to take from that match, and I hope he learned from it. The crowd reactions were interesting on their own: Rey was the biggest star to them, but they were completely OK with the Bucks winning. This is a lot different audience than usual lucha libre shows.

The fourth match (or third of what we got to see) probably was hurt the most for all the similar type of matches. The main event had the aura of the top guys to overcome what had come before (and also they’re quite good), the match prior didn’t have as strong a reason to exist and had to surpass everything that had been done for it. I think it worked, with Laredo, Strickland and Xavier standing out. It just all started to blend together in my mind by that point. I had to walk away and clear my mind before watching the main event (but those in the building didn’t seem nearly as overwhelmed.)

The Gordon/450 vs Divino/Black Boy match was a better laid out than opener, especially early on. It also felt like it went 5-7 minutes too long. It’s not like they over ran a peak, but more that it felt like it kept going to keep going – it would’ve served them and the rest of the show to cut it a little shorter. Mr. 450 is not someone I’m really interested in watching at this point, but he and Flip Gordon looked much more polished than the guys in the opener and their opponents in this match. Arkangel and Black Boy had his moments, when Akrangle not having as many broken spots as he usually does without his brother. This one had two different comeback spots. Not that the técnicos (the Mexicans) came back twice, but that they did one comeback spot (Arkangel headscissoring both guys at once), put a halt to it to put the rudos back in control, and then had Black Danger get in his spot too. That did not flow together well, but it was fitting with the idea of doing more just to do more.

The usual The Crash opener, got the crowd excited but was sort of numbing for me. There’s problems with three fall setups, but it at least causes the matches to have valleys and peaks. These matches feel like never ending chains of one guy in random gear going in, getting in his moves, and the next guy taking over with no particular meaning to it. Some of it looked better than other; the crowd was into Oraculo and his finish looked good, but he and Black Danger didn’t work well together at all (and that’s the feud that came out of this.) This was the first time I’ve seen a full Super Calo Jr. match I believe. He didn’t stand out much, I mean, I spent the first half of he match betting totally unsure if I had him on the other team, because Último Maldito’s mask looked just about as Super Calo as Super Calo Jr.’s. It was confusing to me. At least they figured out a way where Garza Jr. might actually get cheered by putting him against Storm