Lucha Capital: 2019-10-16 (2×1)

Recapped: 10/16/2019

All matches this season emanate from the Pinche Gringo BBQ in Mexico City.

Matches:

Ayako Hamada beat Big Mami and Hades
(7:53, Ayako AP Cross, good, 00:05:37)

Flamita beat Willie Mack and Máximo
(12:19, Flamita crucifix cradle Willie Mack, ok, 00:21:05)

Rich Swann beat Nino Hamburguesa and Argenis
(8:28, Rich Swann middle rope 450 splash Argenis, ok, 00:42:10)

Drago beat Villano III Jr. and Aerostar
(11:49, Drago Dragon’s Trail Cradle Villano III, good, 00:59:28)

What happened:

Ayako, Flamita, Rich Swann, and Drago picked up the wins for their teams in the first week of matches. Everyone seemed to know who their teammates were, which was fairly amazing.

Hades was hurt after taking the finish of her match.

La Griega has been replaced by La Regia.

Thoughts:

The overall presentation is improved. They’ve got fancy graphics to help ease the understanding of the team system this year. Vampiro and his co-host of the year aren’t good but they are kept to a minimum. There’s little dead time between the matches, and I’d happily trade the sometimes enjoyable weirdness for the show being done 45 minutes quicker. JMG & Adrian are more focused on the matches than the Konnan/Vampiro announce teams had been.

I’m not really thrilled at the match format though. I don’t like three-way matches because they usually seem worse than any 1v1 match that could’ve happened instead. They tend to repeat the spin short term partnership/pin break-up spots in all of the matches. That’s what happened here; if there’s even a way to make four different triangle matches, AAA hasn’t figured out yet. I think they’re and we’re stuck, unless they rethink this tournament on the fly. That puts a cap on how good this is going to be during the group rounds.

Aerostar & Drago & Villano III Jr. was the match of the night, a bunch of typical highspots and occasional Villano power moves. It wasn’t without flaws (or people standing around waiting to get hit); Villano looked more noticeably green here than he does in normal AAA TV matches. Aerostar did make it through the match unscathed for once.

Rich Swann calling Nino Hamburguesa & Argenis two of the best wrestlers in Mexico after they all had a very average match was more fun than the match. It was alright, Swann looked the best, Argenis has fully bought into evil, Hamburguesa did some of his usual stuff, it just really wasn’t much.

The Willie Mack/Maximo/Flamita match tried to make the three-way format work by just disappearing Maximo for the last few minutes of the match. It felt like they had lost the crowd then, with a stilted early pace and comedy that didn’t get. The communication barrier here was more with the DJ not understanding what music Willie Mack needed to dance, but Mack and Flamita didn’t feel as smooth as they should’ve been early. This felt like an off night for Flamita. Maximo kiss spots were the most over thing but also kind of felt they didn’t fit.

Hades wrestled as if she really wanted to make a positive impression on her return. She did, and then she ended up on a backboard. That wasn’t a happy ending. The three-way overdelivered, with Mami’s spots getting over and Hades showing a lot more than expected. Ayako did relatively little, which seemed like too much a tell she was going to get the win in the end. It was still a surprising match, enough to make it worth checking out.