Recapped: 04/02/2016
What happened: Bobby Lashely & Mascara Dorada got the first two wins in the Liga Elite tournament. Caristico & Atlantis lost to Volador & Mascara via cheating, setting up singles matches next week.
What was good: Dorada/Tiger was the match of the night, and the others are worth checking out.
Where can I watch it: They’ll be in my playlist on Tuesday.
A very long red carpet sequence of random people – some people in the tournament, some very random folks – kills off six minutes of the show.
Everyone in Liga Elite has new Elite specific entrance videos. The arena is more lit than usual, showing the ringside fans. There’s a floor camera person who’s either just on the other side of the barrier or hanging close to it – you can‘t see him in most of the shots, and no photographers are allowed close to the ring. Match seem to be edited slightly. They’re at least cutting form the end of the entrances to the some seconds into the match, and there seems to be slight editing in the match.
Match 1: Lashley vs Rush [Liga Elite]
Arena México, 03/30/2016
Winner: Lashley (spear)
Match Time: 7:08
Notes: Lashley’s name is spelled “Boby”. Edgar is referee. Rush is the rudo in the match.
Review: [good] entertaining enough when they were throwing each other around, and Rush was a good first opponent for Lashley to have that kind of match. (Lashley against some of these other guys might not go so well.) Lashley didn’t look super, but looked different enough and the point of an outsider is to be different. Rush getting the visual pinfall, giving it up to walk into the finish is not a great sign, and then walking around to show he was really ok after the match is not a good sign for the compromises they’ll have to make, but at least it was clear they were setting that spot up during the match on the rewatch. Rush made sure to argue Edgar before hand. Can’t as easily explain why Lashlely hurried to the back instead of celebrating.
Match 2: Extreme Tiger vs Máscara Dorada [Liga Elite]
Arena México, 03/30/2016
Winner: Mascara Dorada (Dorada Driver)
Match Time: 9:36
Review: [great] a nothing but high spots match, but they had a lot of high spots and they all came off really well. Dorada utterly squashed Tiger with the Brillo Dorado, Tiger landed his legdrop perfectly, Dorada’s pulling off the apron headscissors surprised the camera people, and on and on. Dorada’s had some matches like this before, but not usually with someone who can does their own big spots, and they both were in the right spot for each other. This was much more spectacular than previous match, and also the right kind of match to have on the first week of this show. I’m watching this before watching their LuchaMemes match, and I suspect that one got much more time to develop, but this was really good for a lightning match (and I suspect that’s what most of these will be.)
Senorita Cometa, a Japanese woman, tried to interview people in Japanese before and during the next match. This was not good.
Match 3: Atlantis, Carístico, Mistico vs La Máscara, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr.
Arena México, 03/30/2016
- técnicos
- Pulpo Guerrero on Mistico (2:52)
- La Mascara double knee smash Atlantis (3:12)
- técnicos
- Atlantida on Ultimo Guerrero (1:04)
- rudos
- La Mascara foul Atlantis (7:42)
- Volador backcracker Caristico (7:45)
Winner: rudos (2-1)
Match Time: 12:01
Notes: Volador, acting like a rudo, unmasked Caristico after the match and challenged him to a mask versus hair match. La Mascara challenged Atlantis. Caristico challenged Volador right back. The announcers revealed those two singles matches, as part of Liga Elite and not with the stipulations, would take place next week.
Review: [good] the short format of the matches on the show hurt this one the most, as the first two falls were reduced to almost nothing. If they’re going to keep the TV format the same as it, they need to make all the TV matches one fall. The rhythm of the match picked up in the third fall and these guys continued the pattern of working very hard at a fast pace. La Mascara being unable to follow Atlantis because he’s facing the wrong way was good unintentional funny.
