Recapped: 11/22/2016
What happened: Carístico won the Liga Elite tournament when Rey Escorpión decided to listen to Cibernetico’s music instead of covering Carístico. Bandido won the new welterweight title with a partially botched spot. Willie Mack got flown all the way out to Mexico City for a forgettable match.
What was good: Nothing. Nothing was good. All the matches were disappointing and most were badly booked. This is somewhat historically important – either it’s the first season finale or it’s the last episode – but there’s no reason to watch the show otherwise.
Where can I watch it: It’s on the Liga Elite channel.
This is the last Season 1 Elite show (with the idea that they’ll be back for a season 2 at some unclear point.) They’ve skipped a week of tapings to show the last episode they’ve taped. There’s no highlight package of an undercard match and it’s a slightly shorter episode than usual as a result. The second season idea does come up in a Rey Escorpión promo but isn’t particularly pushed in the show beyond the concept of this being the Liga Elite final. There’s no hint of when they’ll be back.
Match 1: Mr. 450 & Mr. Águila vs Black Tauro & Willie Mack
Arena Naucalpan, 11/18/2016
Video: Liga Elite, R de Rudo
- Team Taurus
- Willie Mack stunner Mr. Aguila (1:32)
- (COR Mr. 450)
- Team Mr.
- Mr. Aguila torito Black Taurus (2:05)
- Mr. 450 Canadian Destroyer Willie Mack (2:15)
- Team Taurus
- Willie Mack Rikishi Driver Mr. Aguila (3:14)
- Black Taurus rolling German suplex Mr. 450 (3:14)
Winner: Team Taurus
Match Time: 7:01
Review: [ok] nothing going on here except Black Taurus doing some of his cool spots. I didn’t find the other guys horrible (Mr. Aguila looked the worst of the four), but they could’ve been any other guys. This didn’t seem edited to be shorter, it was just a short match where guys weren’t doing all that much. Totally forgettable. Hope we see Taurus on another TV show soon.
Match 2: Golden Magic vs Emperador Azteca, Argos, El Bandido, Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Imposible, Decnnis, Flamita, Diamante, Zumbido [ELITE WELTER]
Arena Naucalpan, 11/18/2016
Video: Liga Elite
- Golden Magic wheelbarrow bomb Diamante (7:21)
- Argos frog splash Decnnis (8:33)
- Zumbido moonsault Flamita (11:18)
- Emperador Azteca Super Devil’s Wings Ciclon Ramirez (12:14)
- Bandido headscissors armbar Zumbido (13:53)
- Golden Magic 450 splash Emperador Azteca (15:39)
- Argos foul Golden Magic (15:59)
- Bandido inverted huracanrana Argos (16:45)
- Bandido code red Imposible (20:56)
Winner: Bandido
Match Time: 20:56
Notes: There’s a battle royal to set sides, because of course. The Welterweight belt has an X on it because they’re about 10-15 years out of date. Flamita is wearing his Tribe Vanguard gear. Zumbido has lost so much weight that he can actually pass for welterweight.
The battle royal is particularly dead. They miss eliminations while showing replays.
A: Ciclon Ramirez Jr., Zumbido, Impossible, Argos, Golden Magic
B: Flamita, Bandido, Emperador Azteca, Decnnis, Diamante
This is an elimination match, so of course Argos breaks up a pin to save Golden Magic for no apparent reason. (They’re on the same side, but that hardly matters.) They do team up to get the first couple eliminations. There’s a mid match break for the selfie cam. Impossible disappears for about ten minutes; he’s there, but he’s never in. Argos betrays Golden Magic to foul him, which the show misses and misses more important action catching up with it. Argos pins his partner, which makes absolutely no sense.
It’s the regular Mexico state commissioner and referee Babe Richard Jr. who hand Bandido the title. No one representing Elite is seen. Bandido congratulates the crowd.
Review: [below average] not even close to the match you’d hope it to be with the names involved, and very much hurt by the production. (It’s amazing that they can have the same problem week after week and never bothered to fix it.) Zumbido was fine in this match and it’s nice to see him getting a chance again, but I knew I was done with this show when he pinned Flamita as the third guy out. This was mostly a reward for the early match guys who had stuck with the promotion the entire year – the last five guys are all Elite regulars and everyone else was booted out before them – but Elite has treated Flamita like even less of a star than AAA did. (The four way in AAA was better than Dragon Lee/Flamita and anything else he’s done here, too.) Bandido would be a fine choice for a champion but they didn’t build him up in anyway and he and Imposible really struggled down the stretch. I wish they had put in more forethought to make this a bigger deal, they obviously knew it was coming because the belt was made, but this just didn’t work.
Match 3: Carístico vs Rey Escorpión in a Liga Elite match and in a tournament final match
Arena Naucalpan, 11/18/2016
Video: Liga Elite
Winner: Caristico
Match Time: 10:25
Notes: Rey Escorpión attacks Carístico on the way to the ring. There’s no attempt to explain why these two are in the Liga Final, it’s just presented as if of course they would be in the final.
At the 10:45 mark, Rey Escorpión escapes La Mistica and lands Aguijon Mortal. Escorpión takes his time covering, then covers, then stops covering simply because Cibernético’s music plays. Cibernético is wearing a Los Radicales shirt, but just stands on the steps. Cut back to the ring, where Carístico wins with la Mistica. Crowd does cheer, then boos. The announcers go nuts. Cibernético leaves (and his Los Radicales faction never appears before the camera.) Carístico gets a trophy, not a belt, for the win.
Review: [ok] finish of this tournament, which didn’t really mean that much, came off as a setup to a Cibernético/Rey Escorpión feud. Rey Escorpión is also feuding with LA Park and Carístico and sometimes even Golden Magic and the announcers. I have a guess at who might be pulling strings. This was a longer version and maybe slightly better version of the Carístico/Mephisto lightning match, both in the spots done and the general lack of passion. They did so many near falls, it’s the big enough to the tournament that’s been going on for eight months, and no one cares all that much. There were a few spots that didn’t go well, but it no way felt like a big match. It was just there, and the lame finish didn’t help anything.
