Tag: The Crash

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.

Recapped: 01/05/2017

Matches: 

Arkángel Divino & Black Boy vs Aramis (Estado de México) & Toxin (Estado de México)
(10:59, excellent, via MegaKakashi619)

An outstanding match, one of the best The Crash matches of the year. These are two up and down teams, prone to spectacular moments and the occasional youthful mistake, only they didn’t really make the mistakes here. It was just a lot of big offense for ten minutes. The pace slowed down slightly during the second half, but then they did the doomsday device tope into the crowd and everything was awesome again. Team CDMX got ripped off after their superb combo – hometown ref should’ve given them a three count. In more serious matters, Toxin & Aramis felt like they had been training together, and had totally come to this match prepared. This is ever so slightly docked cause I have no idea what happened on the finish from this video, but it really fits along Sky Man/Saturno as the kind of all action style indie match I really enjoy. This would be one of the first matches I’d show people if they wanted to know what The Crash was about.

Christi Jaynes, Keyra, Lacey Lane vs Black Danger, Jonathan, Último Maldito
(12:41, good, MegaKakashi619)

The viewing of the women’s match is though, because the person in front is wearing a Black danger mask, and the big white afro is blocking the center of the ring. The action is pretty good when you can see, you just have to accept you can’t for large portions of this. The misogynistic spots are still there, but it doesn’t feel like the story of the match like it has in other mixed matches. The women base really well for the women’s offense and the match has a lot of showy spots.

Hijo de LA Park vs Jack Evans, Joey Ryan, Luke Hawx, Viento
(11:38, good, MegaKakashi619)

This is about as random as group of people as there could be, with everyone but Jack not really regulars here and not regular opponents. It’s a bit directionless and strange, but it goes as well as it could given that setup. Viento & Park seem to have the best exchanges. Joey Ryan does his Joey Ryan stuff.

Damián 666 & M-ximo vs Black Taurus & Pierroth
(8:37, ok, MegaKakashi619)

This was a bit of a waste of Black Taurus, who’s great in working with Máximo but feels qualified for something better. It’s a match with no real finish – a one armed Garza comes out and helps martiente Damian for the DQ, then gets run of by the Rojo Rebellion. That’s at least a substitute for the Daga/Garza stuff that was probably supposed to happen here, but the match itself wasn’t all that interesting. Damian’s back on the next show, six weeks later, and isn’t involved with any of these guys, so it seems kind of pointless.

Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs Daga & The King
(17:01, good, via MegaKakashi619)

This comes across as big match for Daga & Rey Fenix, and another indie appearance for the Bucks. It’s a bit more comedy and bits, and not always so serious – doing a long staggering around spot about 14 minutes in is about the level. They’re not blowing off the match, and they get over with it, but it’s also not the dream match. Daga has a bad moment early, flipping on to his head and onto Matt Jackson, does better the rest of the match, but is missing that little bit extra where he takes over the match. This is fun enough if you go in to it with reduced expectations.

LA Park & Nicho el Millionario vs La Máscara & Rush and Bestia 666 & Garza Jr.
(13:17, good, MegaKakashi619)

Better than I thought it would be. It didn’t come together in a big way, and the finish was strange (since when do Los Ingobernables have a referee?), but there were interesting enough parts. Rush & Park had their usual good chemistry. I wonder how many times I’ve seen LA Park push a referee into a sunset flip and count pin. It’s a good sized numbers. The usual finisher sequence turning into everyone clotheslining and dropkicking each other hard was unique. Garza and Bestia getting into an unending war of superkicks because they’re essentially the same guy was amusing. Nicho seemed to have more energy but was moving gingerly.

Recapped: 09/29-30/2017

All matches took place at Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California on June 23^rd.

Long review short: had this aired on TV (or iPPV or whatever), this would been seen as one of the better lucha shows of the year. It’s missing the one breakout match, but the semimain isn’t far off. Everything but the cage match is good, and the cage match at least has big spots.

Matches: 

Oráculo beat Black Danger  
(6:58, Canadian Destroyer, good, via MegaKakashi619)

Lots of action match. This match is a brawl on the opposite side of the side of the ring from MegaKakashi, so his handheld isn’t really useful for the first half of the match. The best option is 126f’s edited video, but of course it’s edited video.

Oraculo tries a lot of spectacular stuff but it doesn’t come off clean. His opening tope con giro is short, there’s a high knee later where the clapping motion he does to create sound is more obvious than the impact of the knee. The moonsault he does later looks good. Oraculo is much more the moves guy of the two. Black Danger is fine at setting him up and tossing Oraculo around, but doesn’t show a lot of emotional or come across as a personality at all. The most you get out of him is holding his head after a near fall.

Rey Horus © beat Matt Sydal, Lio Rush, Sami Callihan to keep The Crash cruiserweight championship
(15:20, casadora bomb on Lio Rush, great, via MegaKakashi619)

A really great all action match, with the three outsiders (including the one heading to WWE not long after this), all giving full effort for a spot fest. Horuz is obviously going to win from the start as the only regular here, but a common thread of Crash shows is how hard the outsiders generally work on these shows. That’s not the norm for foreigners visiting Mexico, but Rush, Sydal and Callihan are going full speed the whole way. Lio Rush sticks out the most, with the big frogsplash at the end super impressive, but the others aren’t far behind. This would be an easier recommendation with a professional camera version available, since a lot of action isn’t really watchable thru the only full version available. It’s also a match that people who follow the US indies may see as covering familiar ground and less interesting as a result.

Douglas James, Jack Evans, Joey Ryan beat Bestia 666, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Mr. 450
(18:24, Evans bridging backslide Bestia 666, good, via MegaKakashi619)

Fine enough trios match that seemed to go on for a long time, longer than it needed to be. Action was generally strong, and it’s one of those matches where enough was done that I left obligated to call it good even though nothing about it strongly appealed to me personally. Joey Ryan doesn’t fit in the match much, especially on what turns out to be the técnico side, but this is also a crowd that wants to see famous pots and he’s definitely got one of those. Mr 450 nearly pulled a Rey Escorpión, almost throwing Jack to the floor on a corner powerbomb.

Jeff Cobb & Keith Lee beat Brian Cage & Willie Mack
(15:48, Cobb German suplex Brian Cage, good, via MegaKakashi619)

The all heavyweight spectacular didn’t seem to be getting over to the crowd early on (and maybe not as much as hoped by the end.) They were doing impressive stuff, but the crowd just seemed to see it as stuff, and no really defined rudo/tecnico sides made it a tougher sell. The dive sequence, or really Keith Lee waiting to let people think about the dive he was about to do, seemed to pick up things and the fans got into it for the next few minutes. Still, this seemed like something that would’ve gotten over better elsewhere. Props to the teams for color coordinating.

Penta Zero M & The King  beat  La Máscara & M-ximo
(13:00, Fenix top rope double stomp/Penta package piledriver on La Mascara, great, via MegaKakashi619)

Notes: Rey Escorpion debuts, running into help Maximo & La Mascara. It doesn’t work, but they beat up Penta & Fenix after the match.

Review: La Mascara & Máximo worked so hard in their first match here outside of CMLL, harder than either man worked in Arena Mexico outside of the biggest matches, and they’re still completely outclassed by Fenix & Penta in this match. Those guys own freelance journies have made them as sharp as a blade’s edge, with Fenix especially having the confidence to try big moves I’m not sure he would’ve done before. This is still a workable matchup and a very watchable match, and Mascara & Máximo are over enough that it doesn’t matter if they’re not on the other guys levels. This is a hot start to this feud, enough here to make people want to see more. I’m not a fan of the “one team wins, other team beats them up anyway after” 50/50 finish normally, but I did really like Fenix kicking out after Rey Escorpión had helped Máximo & La Mascara get the edge. That kind of survival and the win that follows is something that top guys should get, and those two are clearly the top guys. There’s no real choice but to have the Ingober-indys attack them after to avoid killing off the feud after one night, and I’ll deal with the 50/50 in exchange for that kickout.

Nicho el Millionario lost to Daga, Garza Jr., Damián 666 in a cage match, losing his hair
(24:42, ok, via MegaKakashi619)

1. Damian escapes (9:01)

2. Garza escapes (11:38)

3. Daga escapes (24:42)

Notes: Garza and Daga repeatedly have problems in the cage match. Garza cowardly hides on the apron and refuses to help while Nicho & Damian beat up Daga. Later, Daga accidentally this Garza with a chair. Daga regrets that and tries to encourage a disoriented Garza to climb out with him and leave Nicho behind. Garza insists on staying, then fouls Daga and betrays him while still being out of it. Garza fulls Nicho too, and takes out the ref for no reason reason before escaping. Nicho can barely move on one leg but Daga tries to give the win to him, but Nicho won’t accept it. They battle it out until Nicho falls into one weapon pit too much and Daga escapes.

Garza attacks Daga afterwards, which is the setup to the Rebellion being split into Red (tecnico) and Yellow (rudo) factions. Escorpion, Maximo and Mascara also join in, with Penta & Fenix eventually running them off.

Review: This is a lucha cage match. It’s not especially interesting. This one is really slow at times, especially when Nicho decides to spend a few minutes building contraptions instead of trying to win. It’s really more a long angle to set up the Rebellion turn that also happens to give Nicho a payoff. The bit of Garza betraying Daga gives this a story these matches don’t normally have, but the massive amounts of dead time for setting things up makes this a chore at times. This is available in 42 minute and 12 minute versions, and that’s a good impression of how much you can miss.

Recapped: 08/07/05

All matches took place in Auditorio de Tijuana on May 5^th. I switched between MAC Vazquez & MegaKakashi619’s videos depending on the match. Kakashi has better sound and picture, but also the head of the person in front of them blocking the action sometimes.

Matches: 

Douglas James, Oráculo, Serpentico beat Black Danger, Jonathan, Último Maldito
(10:17, Oraculo reverse rana Black Danger, good, via MegaKakashi619)

A more coherent version of a The Crash opener, where they were clearly doing the normal A-B-A structure – but then just kept on going to do more stuff. (You need really need to do the tower of doom superplex, trust me.) Douglas James is not a name that seems to be on these shows a lot but looked impressive here, and this was generally better held together action than usual. Oraculo’s finish looked messed up and he had a headscissors before it that didn’t go well, but they’ve got many months more to get better chemistry.

Arkángel Divino, Astrolux, Black Boy beat Diamante (Elite), Famous B, Látigo
(7:00, Arkangel Divino C4 Diamante, good, via MegaKakashi619)

Anoher good action match, thought his one suffered from feeling too sameish, as if I was seeing the same moves everyone does, but it happened to be with these guys instead. This is one that actually came thru a lot better on the 126f hard came than the ringside, because the moves just look more impression from a typical camera angle. (And because no one’s head was in the way).)

Garza Jr., Jack Evans, Último Ninja beat Bestia 666, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Jeff Cobb
(12:55, Jack Evans bridging backslide Bestia 666, good, via MAC Vazquez)

Review: [good] another solid enjoyable match, though it suffers a bit from being the same style of match three in a row (and more coming) and being a little bit slower match. Cobb throwing people around is definitely different, but the match feel is the same and they didn’t go as crazy as the other matches. A fair bit of the Tijuana crowd is very eager to boo Garza, the show after they used him as the big hero and months before they actually turned him.

Flip Gordon & Ricochet beat Mr. 450 & Sammy Guevara
(20:25, Ricochet shooting star press Sammy Guevera, good, via MAC Vazquez)

The best version of this year, helped by having less people (so less turns needed to be taken) and Ricochet coming off as a cut above everyone else on the show. The other guys were not far behind him but he radiated as the big star here. There was a bit of the sameish feeling here again but they did a lot more flying in this one to stick out. This one felt like it connected a lot stronger live than it did for me, but it was still good.

Daga beat Zack Sabre Jr.
(20:46, anklelock + cruz nipona, good, via MAC Vazquez)

Review: [good] this is the match you want it to be, Daga trying to figure out a way to fight ZSJ’s match and beating him. They didn’t stay just on that mat but it looked good when they did and the finish was a nice big of entanglement, and it felt like a lot of people had to work very hard for the win. I think the people for videotaping this show but I couldn’t take the fans commentary during the match. This is one where I’m sure I would’ve liked it more pro shot because it was just too distracting this way.

Penta Zero M & The King vs Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
(19:25, spike package piledriver on Nick, via MAC Vazquez)

Review: [great] Just like the other matches, it’s a lot of action for quite a while. The two teams match up pretty well, and I think the Bucks ended up doing a couple lucha spots they probably don’t do normally (unless they’re always doing the headscissors/ardmrag combo and I’m mistaken.) This was a generally smooth match up and one of that gave the fans what they wanted to see. It did feel a little all star exhibition and not as if it was big match at times, but they weren’t taking it easier.

Recapped: 07/17/2017

All matches took place at Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal on 04/05/2017.

(more GIFs I didn’t use are here.)

Matches: 

Arkángel Divino, Black Boy (Baja California), Zumbi beat  Astrolux, Black Danger (Baja California), Último Maldito
(8:02, Arkangel super mistica on Ultimo Maldito, great, via +LuchaTV)

They told everyone to go nuts in the opener and they went nuts for a crazy eight minute spot fest. Arkrangel & Último Malidto stuff depends on practicing positioning and good timing, but can look out of this world when it all lines up and this was a really good night for that. Astrolux was part of everything else exciting, whether it was planned ot be one or not. (No one was having a good night at catching dives.) Astrolux is so light that he can do incredible flips and be thrown around easily, and it’s all going to be about how well he can survive the insanity. This was totally insane and he did survive it.

Keira won the The Crash Women’s Championship in an elimination match
(11:05, via +LuchaTV)

1. champion Sexy Star abandoned the match with an ankle injury

2. Keira Devil’s Wings Candy White (6:21)

3. Lady Maravilla northern lights suplex Laura Van Ness (7:24)

4. Lady Maravilla spinning side slam Santana Garrett (8:33)

5. Keira capture cradle suplex Lady Maravilla (11:05)

My philosophy on The Crash shows is to watch all the matches, provided there’s a full length version out there. This is a match I definitely would’ve skipped if was more choosey, and I would’ve missed a fun match. It doesn’t really hit the extra gear until the last couple minutes of usual partners Keira and Maravilla going full out against each other, but it’s still fun as soon as Sexy Star leaves the match. She’s not that bad, it’s just a whole lot of her to get in her time before her worked injury, and the match is just an OK point until Maravilla & Keira start taking everyone out. It’s better usage of random one off foreigners than usual. Garrett and Von Ness do fine, but the match is not really about them, they’re just bodies for the regulars to eliminate. Maravilla had some really impressive moments and still gets eclipse by Keira, a world class wrecking machine who probably should put this performance on some permanent highlight reel. All her offense looks devastating, and she comes off as much more imposing than her size would seem to allow. Keira’s been arguabale the best indie luchadora since 2015, but somehow she’s getting even better.

Rey Horuz won a #1 contenders match for The Crash Cruiserweight championship over Laredo Kid, Mr. 450, Séptimo Dragón, Último Ninja, and DJZ
(13:50 Rey Horuz super casadora bomb on DJZ, good, via +LuchaTV)

The six way contenders match is the one where DJZ suffered an injury (on the Laredo Kid stacked up 450 splash) that would led to him nearly dying in the hospital a few hours later. The injury is not at all graphic or even really identifiable: if you knew DJZ got hurt but didn’t know when, you might think it happened on the finish instead. Still, I have trouble enjoying or recommending a match where people suffer near fatal injuries and this one didn’t come together in a way to change my mind. It felt like they peaked early on and couldn’t get the match going to that level again, though that finish did look huge. eptimo Dragon looked better here than he has in other Crash matches, Último Ninja a little bit worse. DJZ fit in with these guys outside of the nearly dying that thing and would be a welcome addition if he ever heads back to Mexico.

Jack Evans, Máscarita Dorada, Willie Mack  defeated ACH, Bestia 666, Black Tauro (Elite) (15:49, The Mack Chocolate Thunder Driver Bestia, good, via LuchaTime)

I think a comedy match was a good change of pace in the fourth match but it still was kind of a goofy comedy match that probably won’t play well outside of that context. Highlight was Black Taurus asking his friend ACH if he would like to also beat up the small person. ACH declined. Action was fine, but not at the level of the other matches, and watching on the different camera made it a little less appealing. (They did pretty well for a fancam though.) It did get more serious as they went along and Jack looked really sharp in this match. Mack winning is really quite random given where they were going. ACH always gets over when he comes to Mexico and seems like he’d do exceptionally well in Mexico but he’d also probably get bored with the limitations of the format. A Mexican promotion bringing him for three weeks every few months would work well, but doesn’t seem realistic.

Daga beat  Extreme Tiger
(5:24, backcracker, ok, via +LuchaTV)

I don’t know what happened with the Tiger/Daga match, but the result was disappointing given the names. It was simply a five minute match with a chinlock and Daga not doing that much. If you hadn’t seen him before, he looked like a random guy who happened to be facing Extreme Tiger. A slower match on a match with lot of crazy matches has to be something special to stand out, and this was nothing special at all.

Bobby Lashley, Carlito, Jeff Cobb beat Blue Demon, Brian Cage, Garza Jr.   (9:21, Lashely foul Garza, ok, via LuchaTime)

If you want a long time spent watching Carlito trying to unmask Blue Demon away from the camera, this semimain is the match for you. This match is a waste of some entertaining people and also Carlito. Brian Cage nearly ends himself on a bad dive and that was the moment where it was clear nothing good was coming of this match. This was a baffling finish, Garza coming off like a good by ripping off his pants and immediately getting fouled. They seemed headed to Lashley/Garza at this point so it kind of made sense, but Garza as a tecnico didn’t seem to win a whole lot.

Penta Zero M, Rey Fénix, Rey Mysterio 619 beat Cody Rhodes, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Sami Callihan
(17:27, Rey Mysterio frogsplash Sami Callihan, good, via +LuchaTV)

The main event was better than the couple matches that preceded it, but it felt more like guys doing a B main even than the higher energy matches we had seen before. Some of it’s the length, with them slowing way down (a chinlock!) to stretch it out a bit. Nakajima seemed to disappear for about half this match, but he was fine while he was in, and I liked him better than Cody. It picked up at the end and wasn’t a waste of time, but it seemed more fun live on Periscope than on the rewatch months later.