Recapped: 11/28/2018
Matches:
Averno beat Angelikal
(10:09, super Devil’s Wings, good, 00:18:20)
Lady Maravilla beat Lady Shani
(4:43, Shani bridging cradle, ok, 00:35:56)
Pagano beat Aerostar
(6:58, Pagano rebound reverse suplex, ok, 00:48:55)
Máximo beat Niño Hamburguesa
(7:28, kiss cradle, ok, 01:13:54)
Pentagón Jr. beat Golden Magic
(14:29, package piledriver, great, 01:33:27)
What happened:
It was explained at the top of the show that Murder Clown’s win over Samoano was now considered not to have counted. However, since Killer Kross didn’t wrestle, it was considered a loss in the standings for him. (Or, they didn’t want to fly him out again.) That leaves eight healthy people for matches next week if they simply eliminate Fenix due to injury.
Fenix did appear and joined in the main event commentary. He took a wheelchair out to the announcers’ stage but seemed to be moving much better than a wheelchair would indicate. They talked about his injury, but there was no indication of how he’d be replaced in the tournament or what would happen to his title match on Guerra de Titanes.
The first four matches were treated as Konnan & Vampiro picking wrestlers to go against each other, though was forgotten by the main event. It ended up 2-2 in the matches they picked, of course.
Thoughts:
The Fenix/Golden Magic was really good because Fenix had a great one-man performance. Against Penta, Golden Magic held his own. He had to for the story to work: Penta didn’t take him or the match seriously and got taken out with big moves by Golden Magic early and often. If Magic’s offense looked subpar, Penta being unexpectedly in trouble doesn’t work. Penta played not caring but was trying more than he needed to for this goofy show; he doesn’t have to take a headscissors to the floor but he still did. Magic got caught being a little too cocky when things went his way and Penta took it to the next level when he needed to. Golden Magic had a really good tournament for losing both matches and was fortunate to get the matchups he did.
Máximo tried really hard with Aerostar. Niño Hamburguesa is not Aerostar and Máximo didn’t have the same effort. This wasn’t the total comedy match it could’ve been. It might have been a lot better with a lot more comedy. At least that way it might have been fun. The action was slow, not particularly interesting, and dragged without even going eight minutes. It wasn’t a disaster but it’s a very easy skip.
Pagano & Aerostar was not a good mix. Pagano looked clumsy as always, with the bad aim on the buckle powerbomb seeming pretty dangerous. He had a legdrop earlier that was a mess. Both guys could use someone else to keep the match going between moves. Pagano was just giving Aerostar a move, picking him back up, and giving him another move with no particular hurry. Aerostar did some fancy spots doesn’t have the crowd connection to pull them in when he’s getting beat up a lot, and Pagano was less over than his previous match.
The second Maravilla/Shani match was not much better than the first. I’ve liked both in other matches but they don’t seem to have much chemistry with each other. This was a slow match with neither standing out. The submission counter spots they were doing might have worked in a different crowd, but this one seems to need something with more impact. The finish seemed pretty sudden.
The bonus match was pretty fun. Averno used to wrestle a lot of singles matches in CMLL and has done hardly any since coming to AAA. He’s still good in his role of holding together matches with exciting flippy dudes. Angelikal was definitely exciting with his dives, though his aim probably wasn’t as quite as good as he wanted. Averno gave him most of the match to look impressive before beating him. It worked.