Recapped: 11/13-14/2018
Matches:
Lady Shani beat Lady Maravilla
(8:56, Lady Shani bridging suplex, ok, luchalibreaaa)
Aerostar beat Máximo
(8:29, Aerostar top rope splash, good, luchalibreaaa)
Killer Kross beat Hijo Del Vikingo
(8:18, Killer Kross back suplex, ok, luchalibreaaa)
Laredo Kid beat Drago
(11:06, Laredo Fly, great, luchalibreaaa)
What happened:
Kevin Kross teases the existence of a mystery woman, who is surely Scarlett and I’m not sure why it’s supposed to be a mystery. The Kross/Vikingo match saw Kross yell at Vampiro during the match, and Vampiro challenge him to a match any time he wanted. In the show closing bit, Kross called Vampiro a sellout and complained about not getting a title shot. Vampiro called Kross’s comments too stupid to respond.
Hijo del Fantasma joined the announcers after the first match and participated in bits during the show. Big Mami appeared for an arm wrestling challenge.
Thoughts:
The main event was easily Drago’s best match since suffering the shoulder injury back in June. He had to do a lot more than than in the tag matches he’s been wrestling in, and was able to keep up with Laredo’s big impact moves and speed. Laredo is clean with all his big moves, and a good enough base to make Drago’s DDT look really impressive. Laredo’s version of the Spanish Fly comes off as more one man doing all the work then it’s normally done, even though I’m sure it’s about the same. This match felt longer than 11 minutes because it was so packed with action, and was hard fought to the end. It also felt a little more original than Penta/Puma last week, though that just might be because Laredo and Drago haven’t gotten as many showcase matches as those two of late. This match is why this tournament is so worthwhile.
I’m generally so over Kross’ having matches where he looks dangerous but it doesn’t actually go anywhere that when he has a match that is going somewhere – this is a tournament, it kind of has to – I’m still finding it hard to care. Ending the match with Kross pinning Vikingo with one foot didn’t really warm me up to it. Vikingo got in a few flashy moves and wasn’t completely squashed. Kross worked with him OK and threw him around impressive. I just couldn’t find a way to care about it, and throwing in another tease for a Vampiro/Kross match sure didn’t help.
It’s so rare to see Máximo in a normal match, where he has the exotico character but isn’t just doing all exotico spots. He hasn’t had that since coming to AAA. He hasn’t done the walking the ropes plancha much since coming to AAA, and his hard work here was as much a sign of luchadors being encouraged to take this show seriously as anything we’ve seen so far. This trended towards CMLL lightning match move exhibition style, but it got a little bit more serious in the last moments, and Aerostar had so many weird springboard to get in. Worth a watch.
The women’s match was alright, but didn’t really click. Lady Maravilla was so much better than Lady Shani that her sarcastic attempts at getting a chant got a chant. (Not much of one, there wasn’t a lot of reaction for the women’s match again.) Lady Shani had so much more cool offense and Shani wasn’t much aggressive until it was time for her to win at the end. It doesn’t appear Maravilla is ever going to be pushed here – she can’t make even crack the multiway title matches – but I’m looking forward to seeing one more match with her in this tournament.