Recapped: 02/18/2018
Matches:
Acero & Aéreo beat Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Olímpico
(13:35 [5:37, 4:32, 3:26], 1/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Akuma, Hijo del Signo, Templario beat Astral, Flyer, Sangre Imperial
(12:09 [5:21, 3:01, 3:47], 1/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Audaz, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther beat Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
(12:35 [5:25, 3:26, 3:44], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Princesa Sugehit beat Kaho Kobayashi in a lightning match
(7:37, Michinoku Driver, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Hechicero, Johnny Idol, Okumura beat Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr.
(12:20 [2:43, 3:18, 6:19], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Marco Corleone, Titán, Valiente beat Cavernario, Euforia, Mephisto
(12:18 [4:17, 3:08, 4:53], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Nothing.
Thoughts:
I’m going to need to dig into the stats, but I fell like Marco is undefeated in Tuesday main events, even as he lost this one. This was another similar match to his other ones, where no one was going to hard but there were still moments of fun entertainment. The crowd likes his act and tricky but not painful especially painful things like Titan and Cavernario getting a million spins on the headscissors. This was fine for what it was.
The Blue usual Panther surprise first fall finish really didn’t pay off in the semimain. Neither did much else. It felt like less than usual from this group of luchadors, and nothing that was worth checking out.
The women’s match had a nice amount of effort, and more thought than the usual lightning match. Kaho Kobayashi is being treated more like a “new” addition to the women’s division rather than a “star visitor” like other Japanese women coming in for a short time, so there’s a good chance this is going to be here one big match. They certainly wrestled the match like this was Kaho’s one big chance to get in some dives and headscissors. Princesa Sugehit doesn’t seem exactly the right opponent here, she struggles catching Kobayashi on her dive to the floor, and both seem to be missing enough offense to keep a seven minute match interesting. It still goes back and forth nicely and I liked the finish of Kobayashi annoying Sugehit by refusing to stay down but not being able to make a comeback.
Everything in the tercera felt fine, but it also just didn’t make any impression on me. They’re in a holding pattern with Virus & Audaz and the other four have faced many times by this time point. It leaves this match in that weird middle ground where they’ve done it enough times to make it likely good but hard to be memorable. The Panther’s gear looked so un-Panther-like that I thought he had been replaced by Esfinge. I guess it was a Black Panther idea but it felt weirdly crossed with Tron because of all the bold lines.
The second match was better than usual, mostly because Templario and Flyer stood out and Sangre Imperial & Hijo del Signo did not. The first two falls were felt well put together, and Signo did get in the surprise apron dropkick that worked well. Akuma & Templario should be regular partners as long as Templario is stuck in the segunda pool of luchadors. Akuma has a little more personality and could stand to have Templario in there with him as a better influence the Signo level guys. Templario decided to grab onto the top rope for life instead of landing back and waiting in that guillotine position, letting go just in time to get hit by Flyer’s legdrop in the second fall. I think that’s the better looking way to do it, but it’s a forced spot that’s hard to make look good.
I don’t want to take credit for reviewing the opener, but I did pay more attention than usual to see if it had the A-Team had improved. Not really. They did work this match at a faster pace than usual and their 200 matches together have really started to produce tag team moves but I’m not buying it.
