Recapped: 1/1/2019
Matches:
Arkalis & Robin beat El Coyote & Grako
(11:52 [6:07, 2:45, 3:00], 2/3, ok, 00:02:02)
Amapola, Dalys, La Seductora beat Avispa Dorada, La Jarochita, Lluvia
(13:11 [6:26, 4:01, 2:44], 2/3, ok, 00:21:15)
Hijo del Signo & Yago beat Akuma & Camorra, mask/hair on the line
(16:43 [1:29, 2:50, 12:24], 1/3, below average, 00:49:19)
Hijo de LA Park, Kráneo, Volcano beat Felino, Hijo del Villano III, Villano IV
(12:52 [4:41, 4:09, 4:02], 1/3, ok, 01:19:30)
Dragón Lee, King Phoenix, Penta 0M beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Templario
(11:08 [3:14, 2:35, 5:19], 2/3, good, 01:42:34)
Carístico beat Último Guerrero
(6:19 [2:41, 3:38], 1/2 DQ, ok, 02:06:40)
What happened:
Último Guerrero heel kick fouled Carístico for a DQ.
Dragon Lee & Penta had issues during the end of the match and Penta unmasked Dragon Lee after. Fenix jumped in to help his brother, and Dragon Lee was unmasked as second time. The rest of the Munoz family was elsewhere.
Akuma and Camorra lost their mask versus hair respectively. Akuma gave his name as Jose Luis Florenico Matinez from Saltillo. He was billed as 22 years old and 5 years a wrestler, though those do not appear to be accurate years.
Thoughts:
The six-minute CMLL main event wasn’t as embarrassing as some other six-minute CMLL matches. They worked hard for the time they were out there, to the point where it was a bit of a tell they weren’t going the distance. UG usually doesn’t go thru his third fall checklist that early if something isn’t up. Still, doing a six-minute match with the same finish as the trios that built it up is lame. They should’ve just made this semi-main if it had to be short and ended with the Lucha Brothers match
The semifinal is a bit tepid for a couple falls. It finally gets to a high level in the last half of the third fall, but it felt like a match that had the potential to be that good the entire time. Fenix had a slip setting up a super tricky dive, but otherwise looked normal coming back from injury. Dragon Lee too looked like his old self. Templario mixed it best of this group with the técnicos, though everyone seemed fine. The post-match angle was fun though it’s unclear if it’s going anywhere in CMLL.
The fourth match capped off a blah start this card, a competent but not really interesting match. Villano III Jr. looked alright working with Hijo de LA Park in this match and based for him fine, but seems like he’s going to have to grow in the position CMLL’s dropped him in. Volcano does a lot of fat mat agile spots poorly, which doesn’t really help in any fashion. This is a chronic problem with how CMLL tries to use bigger wrestlers against type, and it hardly ever works for them.
The apuesta match started off decent and fell off the rails in the third fall. They couldn’t execute the spots they want to do and they seemed to forget what was supposed to happen. The double dropkick spot wasn’t going to even work, but Camorra sitting on the top rope for about 10 seconds to do a dive was kind of just as bad. Akuma willingness to throw himself around on dives (and protecting Signo on his finish after it appeared he took a head injury) was the best part of the match. Yago was not bad but his finish still doesn’t look good and it seemed like he and Akuma messed up the timing on the finish. This apuesta match will be quickly forgotten, which at least is better than it could’ve gone.
The women’s match had good effort, including a totally unexpected dive sequence. It still wasn’t all that much, but at least they tried. Lluvia’s new outfit is a great improvement over her old gear, but it wasn’t enough to actually beat Dalys here.
The opener was a professional match, which felt like it might still be better than things to come. Arkalis seemed to be trying more than Robin, though it wasn’t really working for Arkalis. Coyote & Grako looked solid here, though lack some personality. I wonder if there’s a rule against opening match wrestlers doing 2 on 1 moves, since the rudos should have some sort of teamwork at this point.