Recapped: 01/01/2016
What happened: Maximo & Negro Casas defeated Kamaitachi & Super Parka for their hair in separate singles matches. Volador declared war on all of the Casas family for their cheating in the main event. Caristico accidentally fouled Rush leading to both losing the semimain, and teasing a Rush/Caristico vs Voaldor/Cibernetico. (Volador is a busy guy.) Thunder still exists
What was good: The Kamaitachi/Maximo match is the best match of the year. It’ll still be a really good match when there’s more than one day.
Where can I watch it: Matches from this show will be on Azteca on January 23rd.
Match 1: Estrellita, La Vaquerita, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis
Arena México, 01/01/2016
- tecnicas
- Princesa Sugehit flipping fujiwara armbar Zeuxis (4:30)
- rudas
- Zeuxis La Roca La Vaquerita (2:30)
- Dalys spinning powerbomb Princesa Sugehit (2:57)
- rudas
- Amapola Devil’s Wings Estrellita (2:20)
Winner: rudas (2-1)
Match Time: 9:47
Notes: Zexuis and Dalys wore matching outfits to reenforce their new tag team
Review: [ok] a normal women’s match which worked fine enough for an opener. They seemed to building up Sugehit/Zeuxis for parts of the match, but it didn’t do anywhere. There were some iffy moments – Vaquerita’s headscissors aren’t good, Dalys didn’t have a good night, Amapola needs to drop the spear if she’s going to keep doing it like she is – but there’s been worse matches.
Match 2: Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge, The Panther vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus
Arena México, 01/01/2016
- rudos
- Raziel missile dropkick Blue Panther Jr. (5:59)
- Cancerbero motocicleta The Panther (6:32)
- tecnicos
- Blue Panther Jr. nudo laugnero Virus (2:45)
- rudos
- Raziel & Cancerbero double submission Blue Panther Jr. & the Panther (4:26)
Winner: rudos (2-1)
Match Time: 13:43
Review: [ok] Another regular match, which was a little disappointing. We did get a few minutes of T. Panther and Virus doing good mat wrestling (to boos), but there was not a real spark with the rest of the match. Less obviously problems with this match but less creativity too (Blue Panther Jr. shouldn’t have been doing the stop sign spot right after it was done last match.) Would’ve been a good moment to give The Panther a follow up win in front of a good crowd to give him some momentum, but nah.
Match 3: Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Thunder
Arena México, 01/01/2016
- rudos
- Pólvora Driver on Atlantis (3:39)
- tecnicos
- Marco Corleone Aero Italiana Dragon Rojo & Pólvora (1:53)
- rudos
- Dragon Rojo double stomp Valiente (4:32)
- Thunder cradle suplex Marco Corleone (5:24)
Winner: rudos (2-1)
Match Time: 10:56
Review: [ok] another match that was just a match, which also seemed like a definitive statement that Thunder was still in CMLL and not going anywhere. (Or more people should yell at CMLL over Facebook.) Marco making Scott Hall like fake scared hand motions might have been the highlight, or Atlantis slowly slamming Thunder.
Match 4: Máximo Sexy vs Kamaitachi, hair vs hair
Arena México, 01/01/2016
- Kamaitachi figure four (3:22)
- Maximo half crab (3:14)
- Maximo powerbomb (16:46)
Winner: Maximo (2-1), taking Kamaitachi’s hair.
Match Time: 23:22
Notes: Seconds were Hombre Bala Jr. and Okumura, who largely stay out of it. Dr. Zavaleta, who was doubling as the commissioner, checked on Maximo (who had a knee injury aggravated by Kamaitachi early on) during the match and seemed close to stopping it early, but let it go on. Kamaitachi tried faking a foul once, but the referee (Babe Richard) caught him and would not call the DQ. Maximo soon tried the same trick and the referee was going along with it this time. Okumura & Kamaitachi protested, and Maximo stopped faking to cradle Kamaitachi, but only got two. Maximo eventually won cleanly via powerbomb.
Review: [excellent] an outstanding fun match, smartly worked around a Maximo injury with lots of drama in the last few minutes. This wasn’t the insane spot fest of the Dragon Lee matches, but something with a lot of those big moves and also more grounded in the story about Maximo barely being able to stand. The crowd is always going to be rooting for Maximo, but they made him an even more sympathetic with the storyline. Kamiatachi smartly attacked the knee and still got in his big spots. The big moments, like Kamatachi’s crazy senton and Maximo gutting himself into doing a dive (and then another and another) were great, but there was nice little stuff like just swinging at each other while they were on the ground. This was a fantastic epic way to end Kamaitachi’s run in CMLL (though he’s still on the card for next week), and it was also yet another really good big match for Maximo. Maximo’s come thru in every big match he’s had for the last 12 months. I wasn’t too excited for this feud when they started it, but it was a fantastic finish.
Match 5: Carístico, Mistico, Rush vs Cibernético, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. in a relevos increíbles match
Arena México, 01/01/2016
- Team Ultimo Guerrero
- Cibernetico chokeslam Mistico (1:37)
- Team Rush
- Mistico La Mistica Ultimo Guerrero (2:28)
- Team Ultimo Guerrero
- Volador pin Rush (5:52)
- Cibernetico pin Caristico (5:52)
Winner: Team Ultimo Guerrero (2-1)
Match Time: 9:57
Notes: A blinded Caristico, covering up after his mask was pulled off, tried to foul him but instead got Rush. Volador & Cibernetico took advantage for the win and were fast friends post match. Cibernetico & Volador challenged Rush & Caristico to a tag match next week. Rush had no problem fighting, but not with Caristico and attacked him. Caristico accepted the match, with or without Rush.
Review: [ok] This one got better as it went along, and seemed a little better than last week, but the post match promos were more memorable than this match. Caristico still seemed to be smoother and got in big spots, but it still felt like he was a bit player until the finish. They teased a lot of different matches during the match and it helps they actually picked a direction post match.
Match 6: Negro Casas vs Super Parka, hair vs hair
Arena México, 01/01/2016
- Super Parka backcracker (1:19)
- Negro Casas scorpion (1:33)
- Negro Casas foul (9:57)
Winner: Negro Casas (2-1)
Match Time: 12:49
Notes: Volador and Puma (who had been guest commentator all night) were seconds. Finish saw Super Parka block a casita for what could’ve been three, but Puma pulled out the referee to stop the count. Super Parka turned to argue and Negro slipped in a foul (straight into an inside cradle) for the win. Volador attacked both Puma & Casas after the match, and made it clear that he was coming after Casas. Parka complained about the way he was beat, but Casas insisted all was fair in lucha libre.
Review: [below average] it was actually better than I thought it would be for a while, with them carefully working the match so Parka had to take a few bumps as possible. They went too long in the third fall, trying to have a big match, and they ended up having a very slow match boring the crowd. Predictably, they had Negro Casas work rudo even though the crowd was largely with him and didn’t like Super Parka all that much. It makes sense if they’re really going with Volador/Casas – that’s a far more appetizing Dos Leyendas match than UG/Thunder – but it didn’t help for this match. This wasn’t the total disaster it could’ve been but it was absolutely the lesser of the two hair matches.
