Recapped: 12/18-19/2017
Matches:
Bengala & Sonic vs Espíritu Negro & Yago
(10:07 [4:57, 3:37, 1:33], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Arkángel de la Muerte, Metálico, Sangre Azteca beat Flyer, Magnus, Príncipe Diamante
(18:00 [10:10, 3:04, 4:46], 1/3, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus beat Fuego, Oro Jr., Starman
(5:57 [2:48, 3:09], 1 DQ/2, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Misterioso Jr. beat Tiger in a lightning match
(7:36, Gori Bomb, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Marco Corleone, Stuka Jr., Titán beat Cavernario, Shocker, Vangellys
(12:33 [4:36, 5:11, 2:46], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Johnny Idol, Okumura, Sam Adonis beat Dragón Lee, Valiente, Volador Jr.
(11:15 [2:54, 2:27, 5:54], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Misterioso took Tiger’s mask after their match.
Rudos (w/Mije) attacked the técnicos at the start. Tecnicos rallied and Starman unmasked Raziel for the DQ. Of note, Starman gets Raziel with his finish in the third fall but Raziel kicks out, then beats Starman with a powerbomb for the win.
I tried watching a Sangre Azteca/Arkangel match to see if Flyer or Magnus did anything cool and I really should’ve known better. I apologize to all the people I’ve let down by masking this mistake. Magnus’ uppercut is coming along anyway.
Thoughts:
I wasn’t convinced the Sky Team/foreigners feud would work, but they showed enough here that it might turn out pretty OK. To be fair, this was helped a lot by Dragon Lee being a ball of energy and I’m not sure Mistico would be the same, but the rudos were able to keep up with enough action to feel like a big match. Johnny Idol is the weak link, still making mistakes on the rudos side. Maybe he’ll get better yet, but right now he just comes off as lucky there wasn’t another foreigner around when they needed a third. Dragon Lee is a good guy to have around if you want to get over a DDT as a finish. Okumura taking the hanging bump off the double stomp onto his head/neck didn’t seem to as great an idea (and he turned a lot so his shoulder would take it.)
Semimain was the usual Marco Corleone match. Titan and Cavenario getting each other’s face makes me sad we’re not getting that direct match much any more. Shocker was doing a lot of comedy reactions in this match, which is something he’s still pretty good at.
Tiger played the role of generic técnico in his lightning match. He did it fine, his tornillo was cool, and I was pleasantly surprised by the ‘rana off the top. It’s just tough to get much interesting out of Misterioso in a singles match, and this was no different. Apparently Misterioso’s finish is the most deadly in the world because he doesn’t need to do much prior to it.
The tercera was just a short match to push the feuding guys. They’re really sending hints that Starman is about to lose here, and it’s weird to have Starman be in any story at all. Oro does know he’s feuding with these guys at this point, but this was just about getting to the two finishes.
The opener ended super quick into the third fall, with Sonic seemingly coming down badly on a flip powerbomb escape and Yago quickly covering him to get him out there. It didn’t seem that serious, and I would’ve like to see what Yago could’ve done with more time if gotten the opportunity. He continues to look quietly good, if lacking the spectacular moves of Templario. He got himself a bodyscissors submission hold, a great improvement over his old finish.