Recapped: 04/20/2018
Matches:
Espanto Jr. & Yago beat Astral & Oro Jr.
(11:44 [4:22, 2:56, 4:26], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Puma, Templario, Tiger beat Blue Panther Jr., Pegasso, The Panther
(16:00 [5:04, 4:59, 5:57], 1/3, great, via VideosOficialesCMLL )
Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora beat Kaho Kobayashi, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit
(13:07 [3:48, 5:11, 4:08], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Carístico beat Dragón Lee in a lightning match
(2:45, ref stop due to injury, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero beat Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr.
(10:25 [5:16, 1:54, 3:15], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo beat La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible
(4:43 [2:22, 2:21], 1 DQ/2 DQ, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What Happened:
Kraneo’s team beat Rush’s team in the main event in straight falls. Kraneo had Rush pinned in the second fall, but Tirantes refused to count for unclear reasons. Rush got up and immediately fouled Kraneo to end the match. Kraneo challenged Rush to a singles match next week.
Dragon Lee suffered a non-contact right leg injury about a minute into his match with Carístico. He collapsed in the middle of the ring and was unable to stand. The referee waved the match off and gave the win to Carístico, who made it clear he didn’t want to win that way. Dragon Lee’s leg was taped up coming into the match.
Seductora beat Sugehit cleanly before their hair match next week.
A fan tried to get in the ring during the semifinal, but was caught by ringside photographer Alexis Salazar.
Review:
The main event was nothing much. The Kraneo/Rush stuff seemed hotter when they first started it then when they’re getting to the singles match, and it hasn’t been that long of a build. It felt like Tirantes screwed up the finish so the improvised but who knows and I’m not sure it even matters. The idea of Rush throwing around Kraneo (and Mije) next week sounds fun but I don’t have confidence it’ll go that well.
This show needed a really good semimain to make up for the Dragon Lee/Caristico match being cut short. It got a semimain which was worse and shorter than usual. There were some dives, the técnicos did some of their offense, the rudos had some control, but there was just less of everything than usual. It was still entertaining but forgettable.
The lightning match was too short to mean anything before the injury. It did come off like Dragon Lee & Carístico weren’t on the same page during those first few moments, but that didn’t have much to do with the injury.
The women’s match was the usual angry brawling match before an apuesta match. It feels even more common for a women’s feud, since the brawling seems to cover up what they can’t do. Seductora can’t do much. Her feud with Sugehit works best when she’s beat up Sugehit because Sugehit can actually move around and fall down, and Seductora isn’t great on that. This women’s match had more energy than usual and the crowd reacted. It still wasn’t much more interesting, and it was disappointing when it was revealed to go three falls.
The second match stood out, even by the standards of the usual Puma/Tiger versus Panther action. I was struck by how much the Casas cats went out of their way to integrate Templario into their own usual team offense. Templario came off more as star for it, with all his big moves fitting into the flow of the match. I think this is the first match where Templario did the Sasuke Special splash in and the dive out, though not back to back. He was just as good as setting up others for big moves. The action was really fast, and felt more fresh than expected for two team who’ve fought so much. Pegasso struggled at portions during this match and didn’t seem the level of the other guys; this could’ve been even better with someone else.
I didn’t have my full attention on the opener because I was trying to get my sound to work, but it seemed better than average for that position. Yago getting the win was a slight surprise, but he looked like the best guy in the match. He worked well with Astral, his offense made more sense than Espanto. Astral was fine.
