Recapped: 08/28/2019
Matches:
Sonic & Súper Astro Jr. beat Espíritu Negro & Hijo del Signo
(12:58 [6:33, 3:16, 3:09], 1 DQ/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Chamuel, Guapito, Perico Zakarías beat Átomo, Gallito, Microman
(5:16 [2:46, 2:30] , 1/2, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cuatrero, Forastero, Hijo del Villano III beat Audaz, Flyer, Titán
(17:45 [5:25, 5:13, 7:07], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Volador Jr. beat Sansón in a lightning match
(7:28, DQ for foul, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Terrible beat Ángel de Oro, Místico, Niebla Roja
(15:02 [6:03, 3:27, 5:32], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario, Diamante Azul, Último Guerrero beat Ciber the Main Man, The Chris, Valiente in a relevos increíbles match
(9:37 [2:11, 3:03, 4:23], 2 DQ/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
This show felt like a backdrop to copious shots of the Gran Prix banners. It grew past distracting to annoying.
In the second fall, Ciber tried using The Chris’ cane, only for Edgar to take it away. Ciber tried to sneak in a foul while Edgar was dealing with it, only Ciber is slow and Edgar turned around in time to see it and call the DQ. The third fall finished while Ciber & UG were on the outside after a UG dive. There were no mic challenges.
Rudos sneak attacked Microman. Zacarias had a plastic water jug for some reason. Guaptio distracted referee MicroAngel from a Microman winning pin and Chamuel pulled off Microman’s mask to get the win. Microman and Guapito agreed to a singles match next week.
The rudos picked up an inexplicable excessive violence DQ in the start of the first fall of the opener. It appeared to be intended, though it came out of nowhere.
Thoughts:
The main event could be worse, there’s been plenty of Ciber/UG matches that have been worse, though it’s only OK because the standards are so low. Seeing a fully tecnico Barbaro Cavernario was fun. Diamante Azul and Valiente on opposite sides would’ve been big if anyone cared about their tag team from just a few months, but I didn’t get the sense it did. Ending with no direct finish between UG and Ciber was very strange.
The semi-main was a lot of Gran Guerrero & Euforia doing their good tag team bits, including the same finish from the tag title match. I hope they’re inspired to change it up and don’t see it as a traveling show but it was still really well done here. Mistico & Terrible were feeling it too and it made for a more fun tag match than usual for this position.
I was a little disappointed by Volador versus Sanson. The action was there but the pace was slow. Pompin’s counts don’t help. Sanson’s injuries might also have been a reason. Ending on a random foul was a bit flat.
I watched the tercera, and then I went back and watched it at faster speed a couple more times because it was missing something and I still couldn’t really put my finger on it. Titan did his usual sequences, and Forastero & Cuatrero operated well as a two man team, and I guess there wasn’t really more than that. Hijo del Villano III feel really into the background; he doesn’t really have established stuff to do in every match like the Dinamitas have, and they just rolled on without him for the most part. It’s a good thing Audaz is a former cat because it took that sort of feline luck to land on his feet after his ramp running spot went wrong. It wasn’t a real strong match for him and I can’t recall much Flyer did outside of dives.
The Micros match was more of angle, with the tecnicos doing little until it was time for a finish. There was an Atomo dive that was a noble effort that didn’t get caught well by Guapito. There wasn’t a lot more. This served a purpose, CMLL actually did the singles match they set up, but you might as well watch that singles match instead.
I don’t know what the deal was with the opener. The first fall DQ was warranted because they shoved the referee but seemed a giant escalation out of nowhere. They did stage dives after the tecnicos had been beat up for a fall and a half in a way that didn’t seem to fit the match at all. The rudos then stayed in control to start the fall, if only because Astro’s spots required the rudos to do stuff to him, but in a way that didn’t feel natural. The “lucha libre doesn’t make sense” bit is usually said by people who can be quickly ignored but a lot of this didn’t fit together. Espiritu Negro is better than Signo, making Sonic look more fun than Super Astro Jr. for the first time. Sonic’s not bad but having someone who could take his headscissors (even if a little slowly) helped.