taped 2014-11-17 @ Domo de la Feria, Leon, Guanajuato
Ludxor & Venum vs Apache & Carta Brava Jr.: [GREAT] Maybe the best opener of the year? The Anniversary one got more time but had some down moments and this one was sharp all the way thru. Gran Apache is still superb and a crazy man to continue taking that finish, but he otherwise got overshadowed by the other three luchadors. Carta Brava destroyed people in the first half of the match, breaking the técnicos with backcrackers and dropkicks, and then they came back with some great tag team work. Ludxor and Venum have improved a lot as a team this year and have a ton of fun combination moves: that monkey flip senton was a neat idea and they made the staircase dropkick work when it looked like it might not. Plus, getting rid of Carta Brava by tying him in a nudo around the bottom rope was ingenious. I hope we get to see more of all these guys in 2015.
Dinastía & Mini Drago vs Mini Murder Clown & Mini Psycho Clown: [GOOD] A speedy minis match; maybe even too fast at times, because the crowd didn’t react as strongly to this as the previous match and it felt like they could’ve used a little more time between moves to let them sink in. That’s not really Dinastia’s style. He was good here, and Mini Psycho Clown remains surprisingly good. He’s another one who could use more 2015 TV appearances. I still have no idea if Mini Drago is a new guy or someone being given a new gimmick but he pulls of the multiple headscissors bit well, and seeing a Murder Clown try moonsaults is a weird visual. Post match angle didn’t get much time but otherwise went well
Bengala, Drago, Faby Apache vs Demon Rocker, Joe Lider, Taya Valkyrie: [GOOD] Average match time seems to have gone down in the last few months – either by choice or by editing maybe? – and the matches are much tighter at 7-12 minutes than 12-18. The match appeared particularlly well laid out, with big moments for everyone. Bengala & Drago got in big dives, Demon Rocker actually got stuff to do. Lider/Taya/Faby were the main three, with Faby almost pulling off the win before being outnumbered. Lider came off as a complete jerk by slapping Faby after the finish, which is kind of the idea (and plus Lider’s the only one with a title match coming up so he should be winning.)
El Mesías & El Patrón Alberto vs el Hijo del Perro Aguayo & Texano Jr.: [OK] Heavly booked match that served it’s purpose well. The Perro brawling and the massive interference didn’t work for me, but the idea here was to build sympathy on Alberto for the title match and that did seem to work okay. They had a stronger focus on Texano versus Alberto than other matches and built him up fine given all the interference – it was more a build of the rudos winning than Texano winning, but I guess that sells the same.
