Recapped: 12/25/2018
Matches:
Acero & Aéreo beat Pequeño Nitro & Pequeño Universo 2000
(10:39 [5:15, 2:30, 2:54], 2/3, ok, 00:01:21)
Átomo, Gallito, Microman beat Chamuel, Guapito, Mije
(14:56 [8:10, 1:34, 5:12], 2/3, good, 00:19:10)
Hijo del Signo beat Akuma in a lightning match
(5:24, DQ for Camorra running in, below average, 00:43:30)
Templario, Tiger, Virus beat Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso
(14:52 [8:50, 2:03, 3:59], 1/3, ok, 00:55:31)
Hijo del Villano III, Mephisto, Villano IV beat Atlantis, Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr.
(11:08 [3:23, 2:29, 5:16], 1/3, good, 01:21:30)
Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Carístico, Dragón Lee, Valiente
(10:22 [6:05, 4:17], 1/2, ok, 01:42:17)
What happened:
Caristico and UG feuded in the main event, with UG sneaking in his heel kick foul for the win.
Atlantis brought out Atlantis Jr. as an introduction. The Villanos were upset about Atlantis upstaging Hijo del Villano III’s own introduction and attacked. Atlantis Jr. was dragged away from security from fighting the Villanos. Villano IV got the clean pin on Atlantis.
Flyer picked up a lower leg injury on his code red to finish Templario. It might have affected his poor performance in the third fall.
Thoughts:
The main event was a simple build-up to next week’s singles match. Hopefully everyone won’t be so focused on their others matches next week and obviously be taking it easy. It was nice to see Dragon Lee in Arena Mexico again but this wasn’t much of a match for him. It wasn’t a lot for anyone.
The semifinal was more energetic than most Atlantis matches, with the angle before the match getting both the crowd and the wrestlers into it. Atlantis Jr. looked like he wanted to fight, which is a good first moment for him. Hijo de Villano III was alright, though he didn’t do much that would’ve caused him to stand out on his own. Villano IV looked great, fighting strong and taking big bumps. I don’t know if CMLL has already decided on a heavy Atlantis/V4 direction or if Villano was simply auditioning for it. It was a good first step either way.
Expectations for the fourth match weren’t high – it may be Christmas, but it also still is Tuesday – yet it was still a bit of a letdown. Flyer just went off the rails in his big third fall moment, negating a nice code red earlier. Virus at least did cut him off when he hesitated on his dive. Templario had some good moments but struggled to put his finishing submission on. No one else really stood out positively.
Signo & Akuma messed up a clothesline spot off the bat and it didn’t get better from there. As an ordinary match, it wasn’t much good. As something to make people care about their mask/hair match next week, it was even worse. CMLL should be embarrassed about this feud.
This Micros match was one of the better-executed ones in a while. Everything built up to Microman’s run of offense, and he and Chamuel pulled it off well. Everyone else did fine, and they didn’t overextend themselves. Mije seemed get hurt or be a little off in the third fall and the dive sequence was a little weird, but otherwise this was good fun.
It is possible Acero & Aereo have gotten better wrestling a thousand opening matches. It is possible we will never know as long as they keep wrestling the likes of Pequeño Universo. Aereo’s the better of the two, at least. This wouldn’t have been the opener I would’ve picked for a special Tuesday show but they probably didn’t have a lot to pick from.