Recapped: 01/16/2019
Matches:
Forastero, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori beat Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Titán
(7:44, Forastero armbar Titan, ok)
Fujin & Raijin beat Bushi & Shingo Takagi
(10:19, Fujin casita BUSHI, ok)
Ángel de Oro, Audaz, Soberano Jr. beat Bárbaro Cavernario, Namajague, Okumura
(12:10, Soberano guillotine moonsault Okumura, good)
Terrible & Tetsuya Naito beat Satoshi Kojima & Toa Henare
(1209, Terrible Clash on Henare, ok)
Carístico, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask beat Gran Guerrero, Templario, Último Guerrero
(11:21, La Mistica on Templario, ok)
Cuatrero & Sansón beat Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. in a CMLL Family tournament semifinal
(9:51, Sansón super torture rack powerbomb Atlantis Jr., good)
Dragón Lee & Místico beat Flyer & Volador Jr. in a CMLL Family tournament semifinal
(14:41, Dragon Lee Mad Scientist Bomb Flyer, good)
What happened:
Sanson & Cuatrero will meet Dragon Lee & Mistico in the CMLL Family tournament final on Friday.
Thoughts:
The main event was the strongest match on the show, with some hot sequences and the biggest moments. Flyer kept up with the other three, though his hesitations and lack of smoothness also popped up. (Not sure who’s fault the long pause before the Spanish Fly was, or if was even meant to be a Spanish Fly at first.) Getting to see Dragon Lee and Volador fight was a treat, and Lee looked great through the match. Místico & Dragon Lee could use a non-dropkick two-man spot, but they do work well as a pair. I expect more out of the final but this was a good lead up to it.
Probably overrating the semi-main, just because Atlantis Jr. continues to look impressive. He was better here than in his debut and carried the majority of the match for his side. His offense is still not super flashy but he executes it well. He took NGD’s moves nicely. Papa Atlantis was trying but maybe too much for his own good; he was limping noticeably after the plancha to the outside. NGD showed enough to come off the as the deserving winner but their next match should be better.
The last trios match started really slow, with a fair bit of comedy and stalling before they got rolling. (You can safely skip everything until Último Guerrero gets unmasked in most UG Fantastica Mania matches.) They ended up meshing without issue once they got going, and there was more Tiger Mask versus Último Guerrero than could’ve been figured. It would’ve been nice to see a bit more of Templario, but he seemed oddly not on the same page of his partners and probably was just happy to be there.
The LIJ heavyweight match was dragging early. They never ended up doing anything with Kojima & Terrible to make it an attractive match, with this focusing a lot on Henare as an underdog instead. The last few minutes picked up well, Terrible & Naito had some good timing as a team. Nothing you need to see though.
The tercera was leaps better than the matches which preceded it, with flowing sequences and fast-paced actions. Soberano & Cavernario got to interact a lot leading into their singles match, though they weren’t involved in the finish. Cameras missed two different Audaz spots in the comeback, but at least he did the chops spot well. He and Namajague worked well together and Audaz got to show off some of his weird escapes.
LIJ versus Fujin/Raijin was a fine match that I wasn’t all that emotionally invested in. Thought the Raijin/Takagi sequence in the middle of the match was the best part of it, but it never really got to as high as you’d expect for something setting up a title match down the road.
The opener followed the pattern seen on the first day’s shows, where the Mexican wrestlers mostly worked with just each other. Forastero & Titan got the ending sequence to themselves at the trade-off of not being in much early. They were fine, though seeing Forastero & Titan wrestler just each other is less than novel. The Taguchi/Ishimori fight was the real focus.
