Lucha Capital: 2019-11-27

Keyra’s best version of this cradle spot

Recapped: 11/27/2019

Matches:

Carta Brava beat Argenis
(10:25, Carta Brava Jr. Air Raid Crash, good, 00:09:25)

Villano III Jr. beat Dave The Clown, Abismo Negro Jr.
(12:00, Villano III Jr. Double Spanish Fly Dave & Abismo, ok, 00:26:31)

Lady Shani beat Keyra vs La Hiedra
(12:13, Lady Shani fujiwara armbar Keyra, great, 00:45:26)

Puma King beat Pagano and Aerostar
(10:29, Puma King armabr Aerostar, good, 01:08:17)

Taurus beat Psycho Clown, Mocho Cota Jr.
(11:47, Taurus foul Psycho Clown, ok, 01:31:32)

What happened:

The show starts with an explanation of how the men’s side is going to work.

  • Argenis and Carta Brava Jr. had a tiebreaker match to determine which of their team advances to three-way matches tonight. Mocha Cota represented the team in the second round (which implies Arez or Mr. Iguana was sitting around backstage ready to go.)
  • The winning men’s teams would meet in a three-way next week. The two winners advance to the final.
  • One person from each of the losing teams would get a second chance entry. There was a fan vote to determine those winners. Those four winners face off for the last spot in the final. The four fan vote winners were Pagano, Psycho Clown, Hijo del Vikingo and Carta Brava.

Thoughts:

Argenis didn’t have a lot of fun

The rhythm of the main event felt off and it felt slow. Psycho Clown’s done more in other matches as well; not sure if the leg injury from Juarez was still bothering him, or if it was just that sort of night. It was not an unwatchable main event and one the crowd was very into, just one to go back and watch.

The Puma King triangle match suffered a bit from feeling like just random moves strung together for a long way, then coming to a halt do Aerostar’s injury angle. The injury did at least pay off into the finish, Puma pulling out a relevant submission not seen from him before. Pagano was all over the place as usual but there was some solid action otherwise. Puma King looked strong in the end.

Lady Shani vs Keyra vs La Hiedra match was outstanding, the best women’s match I’ve seen from Mexico this year. It was hard-fought, it had momentum switches that felt like more than people switching moves, and it played off spots we’d seen before from them in new ways. Lady Shani specifically appeared like she’s level up here, combining the llave spots she’s been doing this year better with more hard-hitting moments. The sequence of going adeptly from hold to hold to put away Keyra was unlike anything done in AAA and put Shani over as a smart killer. This was really a group effort – Keyra kicked people in the face, Hiedra is also a lot improved – but they got Shani over huge by the end and that seems like the goal. The women wrestled this like a big-time tournament match and the only thing missing was the tournament feeling big enough to match it.

everyone lived

Two straight all rudo matches to open up the card was an unusual choice. At least Dave & Abismo attacked Villano off the start to establish him as the guy to root for here. It couldn’t really stick that way over ten minutes and so it was just a lot of spots. There were parts of this match where Abismo Negro Jr. was worse than Dave the Clown, about the most devastating thing you can say about a person. Dave wants to do a lot of things, doesn’t know if they make sense for him (a two-person headscissors?), doesn’t care. The Villano III Jr. double Spanish Fly spot was another moment of wrestlers trying to do something they weren’t really capable of doing, and it could’ve gone very badly.

Poder del Norte delivered consistently in this tournament. Carta Brava once again against Argenis, coming off aggressive while being just on time in the right places for his big dives. The block of the Volador Sprial right into the Air Raid Crash for the finish was smartly done. Brava kept the action going in a ten-minute singles match with Argenis, someone who’s not really shown that aptitude in prior chances. The rudo turn has given him an added dimension – he can still fly a little bit but seems free to do other things. This was a fun opener and I wouldn’t argue with anyone rating it higher.